252
E.-S. E. Omran
on the way from it to the outsource, west to east, Al-Aquila Valley, Balizia Valley,
and Zayyat Plain.
Agriculture is practiced in the low bottom of the plateau, and most of the wells
are in the western strip, which comprises several villages. Calcareous, sandstone,
and rock weathering created most of the natural soils. In the region, there are also
large sandy areas transported from sand dunes by the wind. Most of the currently
developed areas are deep sedimentary soil composition. The dominant diagnostic
horizon in the region is Salic, Gypsic, and Petrogypsic.
There are large areas to be reclaimed and cultivated for the potential for horizontal
expansion, especially in the West Mawhub, easily accessible to the Zayyat and some
of its neighboring locations, particularly as the Dakhla is regarded one of the richest
water reserves. According to hydrological studies and forecasts of mathematical
models, the present rate of aquifer production is estimated at 185 million cubic
meters and can be increased by 217 million cubic meters per year. The Ministry of
Works and Water Resources estimates the capacity to increase for almost 22,000
acres of reclaimed land and to drill 78 wells.
5 Case 3: Farafra Oasis
Farafra is a small oasis that is considered to be the New Valley’s most remote oasis.
Farafra Oasis lies in the Western Desert between latitudes 26° 00
- 27° 30
N and
longitude 27° 20
- 29° 00
E. The Farafra Oasis is situated 170 km from the Bahareya
Oasis and 627 km from Cairo and is therefore somewhat isolated. It is described by
hyper-arid climatic conditions where the main annual rainfall is 3 mm/year; thus,
in Farafra Oasis, groundwater is the unique source of freshwater (Moharram et al.
2011). Figure 7 shows the map of Farafra Oasis.
Farafra has a population of around 5000. Most of them, however, came
from the Nile Valley to work in the oasis as farmers. Farafra Oasis has some
natural water wells because of its geographical location and geological
formation. According to Moharram et al. (2011), the 48 productive
wells out of 140 wells have an optimum pumping speed of 183,023 m
3 /day.
Most of the wells are used in the oasis to irrigate the cultivated land. The Post
Nubian aquifer exceeds 220 m thick while the Nubian sandstone aquifer is made
up of alternating units of sand and clay. These sand units are forming three waterbearing horizons in Farafra (Moharram et al. 2011). The vertical flow of groundwater
through the aquifer layers is slowed down in the NSAS clay beds. Nubian aquifer’s
low level ranges from—1700 m to approximately—2300 m. The number of wells
that tapped this aquifer rose in the present time from 18 wells in the 1960s to about
140 wells. Hence, the pumping from the aquifer was increased in the last decade and
now reaches 0.145 km
3 /year. The transmissivity of the productive zones in the oasis
is recorded between 148.6 and 1642 m
2 /day (Moharram et al. 2011), Bakhbakhi
(2002) states 1056.8 m
2 /day, respectively while the average hydraulic conductivity
reaches 1.3–7 m/day, here Bakhbakhi mentioned a value of 4.7 (Bakhbakhi 2002).
E.-S. E. Omran
on the way from it to the outsource, west to east, Al-Aquila Valley, Balizia Valley,
and Zayyat Plain.
Agriculture is practiced in the low bottom of the plateau, and most of the wells
are in the western strip, which comprises several villages. Calcareous, sandstone,
and rock weathering created most of the natural soils. In the region, there are also
large sandy areas transported from sand dunes by the wind. Most of the currently
developed areas are deep sedimentary soil composition. The dominant diagnostic
horizon in the region is Salic, Gypsic, and Petrogypsic.
There are large areas to be reclaimed and cultivated for the potential for horizontal
expansion, especially in the West Mawhub, easily accessible to the Zayyat and some
of its neighboring locations, particularly as the Dakhla is regarded one of the richest
water reserves. According to hydrological studies and forecasts of mathematical
models, the present rate of aquifer production is estimated at 185 million cubic
meters and can be increased by 217 million cubic meters per year. The Ministry of
Works and Water Resources estimates the capacity to increase for almost 22,000
acres of reclaimed land and to drill 78 wells.
5 Case 3: Farafra Oasis
Farafra is a small oasis that is considered to be the New Valley’s most remote oasis.
Farafra Oasis lies in the Western Desert between latitudes 26° 00
- 27° 30
N and
longitude 27° 20
- 29° 00
E. The Farafra Oasis is situated 170 km from the Bahareya
Oasis and 627 km from Cairo and is therefore somewhat isolated. It is described by
hyper-arid climatic conditions where the main annual rainfall is 3 mm/year; thus,
in Farafra Oasis, groundwater is the unique source of freshwater (Moharram et al.
2011). Figure 7 shows the map of Farafra Oasis.
Farafra has a population of around 5000. Most of them, however, came
from the Nile Valley to work in the oasis as farmers. Farafra Oasis has some
natural water wells because of its geographical location and geological
formation. According to Moharram et al. (2011), the 48 productive
wells out of 140 wells have an optimum pumping speed of 183,023 m
3 /day.
Most of the wells are used in the oasis to irrigate the cultivated land. The Post
Nubian aquifer exceeds 220 m thick while the Nubian sandstone aquifer is made
up of alternating units of sand and clay. These sand units are forming three waterbearing horizons in Farafra (Moharram et al. 2011). The vertical flow of groundwater
through the aquifer layers is slowed down in the NSAS clay beds. Nubian aquifer’s
low level ranges from—1700 m to approximately—2300 m. The number of wells
that tapped this aquifer rose in the present time from 18 wells in the 1960s to about
140 wells. Hence, the pumping from the aquifer was increased in the last decade and
now reaches 0.145 km
3 /year. The transmissivity of the productive zones in the oasis
is recorded between 148.6 and 1642 m
2 /day (Moharram et al. 2011), Bakhbakhi
(2002) states 1056.8 m
2 /day, respectively while the average hydraulic conductivity
reaches 1.3–7 m/day, here Bakhbakhi mentioned a value of 4.7 (Bakhbakhi 2002).