Sustainable groundwater management in arid regions considering climate change impacts in Moghra region, Egypt

Sayed, Ebtehal , Riad, Peter , Elbeih, Salwa F. , Hassan, Ahmed A. , Hagras, Mona

2020-10-01 GROUNDWATER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2020   11(卷), null(期), (null页)

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Egypt is one of the most water-scarce countries of the Middle East and North Africa region and is highly vulnerable to climatic changes. In the Egyptian deserts, new land reclamation projects depend mainly on groundwater as the main source of water. Also, solar energy is the most promising renewable source of energy for pumping and transport of water. Moghra region is one of the well-known "1.5 Million Acres Reclamation Projects" areas in the Western Desert. In this paper, a groundwater model was constructed and used to investigate the sustainable groundwater management scenarios in Moghra region taking into consideration impacts of the expected climate changes. Using MODFLOW/GMS software, Moghra model was prepared and calibrated based on the region's topographic, climatic, geologic and hydrologeolgic conditions. The model was used to explore the impacts of climate changes; Sea Level Rise (SLR) by 1.0 m and temperature increase by 2 degrees degrees C and 4 degrees degrees C on the management scenarios. In addition, the required power for water management after 5, 10, 50 and 100 years were determined. It was concluded that the best management scenario is to use 1000 wells to extract 1.2 Mm(3)/d of water for serving a total area of 85,714 acres (360 km(2)). This scenario satisfies the project criteria that permits a maximum drawdown less than 1 m/year. It was also concluded that SLR has mild effects on groundwater levels due to the vast aquifer dimensions. Additionally, the increase in evapotranspiration due to temperature increase will lead to a significant increase in the consumptive use. The power needed to extract water will continuously increase due to the expected increase in drawdown. The required area for Photovoltaic (PV) solar plant was determined and its value increased by 6% and 12% due to temperature increase of 2 degrees C and 4 degrees C, respectively.