Hydrogeochemical Characteristics and Assessment of Water Resources in Beni Suef Governorate, Egypt

Ahmed Melegy, Ahmed El-Kammar, Mohamed Mokhtar Yehia, Ghadir Miro

Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water.
Department of Geological Sciences, National Research Centre, Dokki, Egypt.
Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/ojg.2014.42005                

Abstract

The main target of this research is to investigate the hydrogeochemical characteristics of surface and groundwater resources in Beni Suef Governorate, Egypt. A combination of major and heavy metals has been used to characterize surface and groundwater in Beni Suef Governorate, Egypt. Twenty water samples were collected from the water resources: River Nile, El-Ibrahimia canal, Bahr Youssef, irrigation and drainage channels and Quaternary aquifer. The collected water samples were analyzed for major and heavy metals. Surface and groundwater in the study area are considered potable for drink and irrigation based on the TDS and major ions concentrations. Regarding the MPL quoted by the WHO [1] and FAO [2], water resources in the study area are polluted by Al, Cd, Fe, Mn, Co and Cu. The highest concentrations of Al, Cd, Fe, Mn, Co and Cu recorded in the study area were 2545, 400, 1415, 2158, 239 and 1080 μg/l, respectively. Both surface and groundwater in Beni Suef suffer from pollution due to the impact of unsupervised anthropogenic activities including: fertilizers and pesticide, waste disposal and industrial waste, seepage from septic tanks, construction of water pipes, wastewater from El-Moheet drainage and evaporation processes during flood irrigation.

Keywords

Beni Suef; Surface Water; Groundwater; Hydrogeochemical Characteristics; Heavy Metals

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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