الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Egypt faces great challenges to secure its freshwater budget, which affects the agricultural sector and food security of the country. Agricultural drainage water reuse strategy is considered as the most appropriate solution to overcome the irrigation water shortage problem. It already represents more than 20% of Egyptian water resources. Drainage water can be reused in conjunction with freshwater resources, such as mixing of drainage water with freshwater. Water quality status of re-used water may be of concern, especially in arid regions where salt content of drainage water may be high. Therefore, drainage water reuse projects should be carefully installed, and water quality assessment should be accompanied with these projects. The objective of this study is to assess three different drainage water reuse projects in El-Behera governorate, Egypt, based on experimental records and water quality index approach.Thirty-six water samples were seasonally collected from 3 different drainage water reuse projects during 2017. Drainage water, freshwater and mixed water were evaluated according to the Egyptian and international (FAO) guidelines for irrigation water. CCME-WQI and NSF-WQI were applied to assess the drainage and irrigation water according to the Egyptian standards. Moreover, statistical analysis tools (Correlation Analysis, Factor Analysis (FA) and Principle Component Analysis (PCA) were applied for the assessment of a measured water quality data set of field records. Most recorded parameters for drainage and irrigation water exceeded the permissible limits. The results of CCME-WQI confirmed the ―Poor‖ and ―Marginal‖ water quality status of all studied drains (drainage water) according to the Egyptian standards. The water quality statuses of all studied mixed water in canals were classified as ―Bad‖ according to NSF- WQI. The most important causes of pollution in the study area are the presence of sewage and salinity as an effect of industrial and agricultural wastes.To avoid deterioration of the soil, crops, food security elements and health protection, the percentage of mixing should be adopted. In addition, improving drainage water quality is urgently recommended. |