Managed Aquifer Recharge for sustainable development in the Northern Coastal Aquifer System of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

The groundwater is a main issue in sustainable development of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Because of extensive groundwater abstraction, the Quaternary coastal aquifer system in the study area is now facing a serious salt water intrusion problem. Seleem (1996) has developed a saltwater intrusion numerical model by using MOCDENCE software which is developed by Sanford & Kinikow (1985). He found that the saltwater intrusion increases the salinity of groundwater in the wells over time. The isohytal map of Sinai Peninsula also shows that the isohyetal contour lines increase towards the northern direction in the Northern Province of Sinai peninsula where the annual rainfall rate is 104.7 mm/year at El-Arish station and 304.1 mm/year at Rafah station.

In the presented study, we suggest a network of rainfall harvesting units to collect the amount of high intensity rainfall water from the cities in the study area. The harvested rainfall water could be injected in the frame of a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) project into the calcareous sandstone (Kurkar) aquifer to attenuate the salinity of this aquifer and to prevent the progress of freshwater-saltwater interface.

For the suggested scenario, the SEAWAT software is applied to simulate the three dimensional variable density groundwater flow and solute-transport in the Quaternary aquifer system in the northern Sinai, Egypt. SEAWAT was developed by the USGS based on MODFLOW and MT3DMS packages. The numerical study with the SEAWAT software allows to investigate the potential impact of MAR on the movement of freshwater-saltwater interface in the study area.