Egypt is facing increasing water demand by the rapidly growing population,
increased urbanizations, higher standards of living and the agricultural policy
which emphasizes expanding crop production in order to feed the growing population.
The Western Desert of Egypt is considered as important area for expansion
depending on the groundwater resources. The groundwater needs more studies
regarding its quantity, quality and sustainability for irrigation and drinking
purposes. The Nubian sandstone aquifer system (NSAS) is considered as one of
the most significant and potable groundwater basins in the world; it is the only
water resource for most of the areas sharing its valuable reserve. It extends over a
vast area in Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad. The area occupied by the aquifer extends
between lat 15° and 25° N and long 20° and 35 ° E. The area of the Nubian
aquifer system of Eastern Sahara is about 2.35 millions km2. It encompasses
some 850000 km2 in Egypt (670000 km2 in Western Desert, including the area
known as Wadi Elgidid (New Valley) CEDARE (2000) and Sefelnasr (2007).
The current study aims to evaluate the groundwater potentiality and suitability
for drinking and irrigation in the New Valley, Western Desert, Egypt. This
evaluation includes analysis for the cations: Na+, K+, Ca++ and Mg++ and the anions:
Cl-, HCO3
- and SO4
2-, soluble heavy metals (Fe and Mn). Values of pH, TDS
and EC of the groundwater samples in El Kharga and El Dakhla Oases were determined.
The results were compared with the standards such as: Egyptian standard
(2007), WHO (2006) and FAO standard (1980). Result concluded that soluble
iron is the major problem for drinking water, since only 2.4% of the studied
samples were in the safe limits for drinking. 42.8% of the studied samples are in
the safe limits for the modern irrigation systems. Dealing with manganese, 89.8%
of the studied wells were in the safe limits for drinking and there is no problem in
irrigation. The soluble salts in the groundwater were at the safe level for drinking
and irrigation