Groundwater potential for irrigation in the East Oweinat area, Western Desert, Egypt
1996
Nour, S.
The Nubia Sandstone aquifer system is one of the most extensive groundwater systems in North Africa, covering an area of about 2,000,000 km2, including parts of Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and Chad. In the Western Desert of Egypt, the Nubian formation has a thermal gradient of 1.1-5 degrees C 100 m-1 with the exception of the East Oweinat area, located in the southern part of the Western Desert. This is the only part of this huge system where groundwater occurs under unconfined conditions in an area where the Nubian sandstone crops out and is underlain by shallow basement rocks; in this area groundwater has no thermal characteristics. The aquifer system in the East Oweinat area attains a relatively high hydraulic conductivity. The direction of groundwater flow is generally northeastwards but is distorted at faults and fracture zones. Chemical analyses of groundwater in the area indicate a low salt content and suitability for irrigation purposes. As the estimated recharge to the area is low compared with the foreseen irrigation water requirement, the development of groundwater in the East Oweinat should be based on groundwater mining. Although the evaluation of the groundwater resources in East Oweinat has indicated that groundwater can be extracted at a rate of 4.7 X 10(6) m3 d-1, the long-term economics of extraction that can sustain large-scale development projects has to be assessed.
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