Detecting and Controlling
the Waterlogging in Dakhla Basin
El-Sayed E. Omran
Abstract Egypt faces a steady decrease in groundwater per capita due to water
resource limitations. Land reclamation projects in Egypt are targeted at the Western
Desert; however, such expansion involves the best use of land and water resources.
The project’s focus is based on knowledge of population growth and food security
problems in Egypt. However, waterlogging in these projects’ land is severe. So, the
current work was therefore aimed at understanding and detects the waterlogging in
Dakhla Basin. Three examples of areas in the desert have been analyzed, Dakhla
Oasis, Kharga Oasis, and Farafa Oasis. On the one hand, the ability of the various
oases is different depending on the hydrological, socioeconomic and political. On
the other hand, permanent irrigation involves constant use of water in the fields that
after some time has led to waterlogging. Water-saturated soil allows the distance
between the surface and the groundwater table to be small enough to allow water to
be brought up by evaporation. The relatively small amount of salt in groundwater
can accumulate on the soil’s surface, causing soil salinity to rise over the years.
Therefore, a drainage system is needed. In contrast, the most difficult would be the
cost of providing sub-surface drainage to the agricultural land in order to prevent
the soil from waterlogging. In Dakhla Basin, five major factors responsible for the
issue of waterlogging and salinity are identified. Hardpans are the main causes of
waterlogging and salinity problems. A second cause is the lack of drainage. The
third causes are systems of irrigation. Even the depletion of groundwater quality is
the result of over-irrigation. Last but not least, overpumping groundwater is a major
contributor to the development of waterlogging in the basin of Dakhla.
Keywords Kharga- Dakhla depression · Waterlogging · Basin · Oasis
E.-S. E. Omran (B)
Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
e-mail: e.omranaswu@edu.eg
Institute of African Research and Studies and Nile Basin Countries,
Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Iwasaki et al. (eds.), Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert,
Egypt: Dakhla Oasis, Earth and Environmental Sciences Library,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64005-7_14
241
the Waterlogging in Dakhla Basin
El-Sayed E. Omran
Abstract Egypt faces a steady decrease in groundwater per capita due to water
resource limitations. Land reclamation projects in Egypt are targeted at the Western
Desert; however, such expansion involves the best use of land and water resources.
The project’s focus is based on knowledge of population growth and food security
problems in Egypt. However, waterlogging in these projects’ land is severe. So, the
current work was therefore aimed at understanding and detects the waterlogging in
Dakhla Basin. Three examples of areas in the desert have been analyzed, Dakhla
Oasis, Kharga Oasis, and Farafa Oasis. On the one hand, the ability of the various
oases is different depending on the hydrological, socioeconomic and political. On
the other hand, permanent irrigation involves constant use of water in the fields that
after some time has led to waterlogging. Water-saturated soil allows the distance
between the surface and the groundwater table to be small enough to allow water to
be brought up by evaporation. The relatively small amount of salt in groundwater
can accumulate on the soil’s surface, causing soil salinity to rise over the years.
Therefore, a drainage system is needed. In contrast, the most difficult would be the
cost of providing sub-surface drainage to the agricultural land in order to prevent
the soil from waterlogging. In Dakhla Basin, five major factors responsible for the
issue of waterlogging and salinity are identified. Hardpans are the main causes of
waterlogging and salinity problems. A second cause is the lack of drainage. The
third causes are systems of irrigation. Even the depletion of groundwater quality is
the result of over-irrigation. Last but not least, overpumping groundwater is a major
contributor to the development of waterlogging in the basin of Dakhla.
Keywords Kharga- Dakhla depression · Waterlogging · Basin · Oasis
E.-S. E. Omran (B)
Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
e-mail: e.omranaswu@edu.eg
Institute of African Research and Studies and Nile Basin Countries,
Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Iwasaki et al. (eds.), Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert,
Egypt: Dakhla Oasis, Earth and Environmental Sciences Library,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64005-7_14
241