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Impact of Over-Pumping on the Groundwater Quality of the Dead Sea Basin/ Jordan

Majeda MB Al-Hadidi1 * , Atef A.Al Kharabsheh1 and Rakad A. Ta any1

1 Department of Water Resources and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Al-Balqa Applied University, As Salt, 19117 Jordan

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.8.3.04

This study deals with the water quality evaluation of the groundwater resources in the Dead Sea basin in Jordan. The study area is located in central part of Jordan and covers an area of about 6874 km2. The importance of this study is to identify the different environmental conditions associated with the increase of population, depletion of groundwater and irrigation activities. The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of over-pumping on the groundwater quality of the Dead Sea Basin. The total abstraction from the basin in 2011 was 81.1 MCM while the safe yield is 57 MCM, with an over-pumping rate of 142 % of safe yield.Five hundred water samples of 180 groundwater wells from different locationswere collected and analyzedfor their physical and chemical properties. The analyzed water samples weresubject to cluster analysis using SPSS software. The results showed that, there are two types of groundwater were concluded according to Langguth; Alkaline earth waters with increased portion of alkalis and prevailing chloride characterized the first type. About 90% of the groundwater samples fall within this type. The percentage of earth alkaline ions is higher than that of the bicarbonate. The chemistry of the first type shows the flowing ionic order:Ca+2+2+ andCa+2< HCO3-. The second type was characterized by alkaline water with prevailing chloride. This type represents about 10% of the total water samples in the Dead Sea basin, with ionic ratio as: Ca+2+2+ and (Ca+2 +Mg+2)< (HCO3-+SO4-2). Few samples slightly exceeded the level of chloride (300 mg/l). Three clusters were determined and the whole were classified as very hard based on hardness. According to the USA Salinity Diagram, two clusters were determined, the first and second clusters were classified as high salinity hazard with low sodium hazard (C3-S1) and the third one is classified as very high salinity hazard with low sodium hazard (C4-S1). That means these are not suitable for irrigation purposes.

Groundwater; Irrigation; Salinity Hazard; Dead Sea basin

Copy the following to cite this article:

Al-Hadidi M. M, Al-Kharabsheh A. A, Ta’any R. A. Impact of Over-Pumping on the Groundwater Quality of the Dead Sea Basin/ Jordan. Curr World Environ 2013;8(3) DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.8.3.04

Copy the following to cite this URL:

Al-Hadidi M. M, Al-Kharabsheh A. A, Ta’any R. A. Impact of Over-Pumping on the Groundwater Quality of the Dead Sea Basin/ Jordan. Curr World Environ 2013;8(3). Available from: http://www.cwejournal.org/?p=5157

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