Renewable Groundwater Resources in Sinai and the Eastern Desert of Egypt

We are conducting comprehensive studies to develop, validate, and demonstrate techniques for evaluating the extent of alternative renewable water resources arising from sporadic precipitation over large watersheds in arid and semi-arid mountainous areas, using the Eastern Desert and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt as test sites. This program builds on ongoing UNDP (United Nations Development Program) / GEF funded projects aimed at developing reliable techniques for evaluating the extent of renewable ground water resources in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, and to evaluate the extent and source(s) of the groundwater. The comprehensive techniques that we advocate encompass the use of various geochemical and isotopic techniques, surface and groundwater modeling, field observations, and analysis of Landsat, digital elevation, seismic, and drilling data. To the best of our knowledge, no such comprehensive studies have been applied previously in Saharan Africa and in neighboring arid and semi-arid countries, although they are required to evaluate renewable water resources. We will determine sources of the groundwaters under investigation, evaluate the extent and magnitude of alluvial groundwater that is recharged by rainwater, and determine the timing of the recharge cycle. The results should be viewed as a model to be replicated in neighboring Middle Eastern and Saharan countries, as well as in Nile valley countries.

Relevant Papers:

Becker, D.B.*, Sultan, M.I., Milewski, A.M., Becker, R.H., Sauck, W., Soliman, F., Yan, E., Chouinard, K.**, Welton, B.**, 2012, A Web-based GIS Solution for the Assessment of Groundwater Potential in Arid Lands: A Case Study from the Egyptian Deserts, Geosphere, doi:10.1130/GES00777.1

Sultan,M., Metwally, S., Milewski, A., Becker, D.*, Ahmed, M.*, Sauck, W., Soliman, F., Sturchio, N., Yan, E., Rashed, M.*, Wagdy, A., Becker, R.,  Welton, B**, 2011, Modern Recharge to Fossil Aquifers: Geochemical, Geophysical, and Modeling Constraints, Journal of Hydrology, v403, no. 1-2, p 14-24, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.03.036

Sultan, M., Yousef, A.F., Metwally, S.,  Becker, R. H. , Milewski, A.,  Sauck, W., , Sturchio, N.C., Mohamed, A.M.M.*,  Wagdy, A., El Alfy, Z., Becker, D.B.*, Sagintayev, Z.*, El Sayed, M.,  and Welton, B.**, Red Sea Rifting Controls on Aquifer Distribution: Constraints from Geochemical, Geophysical, and Remote Sensing Data, GSA Bulletin, v. 123, no. 5-6, p. 911-924 ,doi:10.1130/B30146.1