Major environmental problems which faced most of river intakes are successive sedimentation in front of intakes and water drawn from river intakes is inherently capability to contamination, these problems causes reducing the amount of the drawing water and decrease the station efficiency. Sedimentation problems and contamination are relatively common in Egypt, especially in the case of drinking water treatment plants intakes on River Nile. The problem of sedimentation at water intakes can largely be minimized by remove of sediment from the intakes to ensure continuous water supply from these intakes and to protect intakes from contamination.
The objectives of this study, to develop early warning system to predict the annual rate of sedimentation deposition and delineation of river Intake Protection Zones (IPZs). To achieve these objectives, the hydrodynamic delft (3d) model used for simulation and prediction of river flow, sediment deposition and particle tracing to define area of Intake Protection Zones (IPZs). The model was calibrated and verified using field measured data for Abu Teg (Assuit) water station which faced the major problem of sedimentation.
The results showed the annual rate of deposition sediment on front of Abu Teg (Assuit) water intake station is (0.3m) per year. Intake Protection Zones (IPZs) of Abu Teg (Assuit) water intake station was defined under applying of two scenarios, for max flow was extended about (4.60) km and for min was extended flow (3.3) km upstream the intake. Vulnerability score was calculated and concluded that Abu Teg (Assuit) water intake represents high capability to contaminants .
This study concluded that the use of early warning system is effective tool to improve efficiency and ensures a healthy supply of river intakes.