Abstract
The Omar-Bek drain, which represents the main source of water pollution along the Damietta branch of the Nile River, receives about 600,000 m3 (158,503,200 gallons) daily of untreated domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes. The main purpose of this research consisted of investigating alternatives of managing water quality at the Damietta branch; a comparison was conducted between the current situation and two proposed scenarios. The first scenario involved changing the effluent path of the Omar-Bek drain to another drain is called “Main Western drain”. The second scenario centered around improving water quality at the Omar-Bek drain by constructing a WWTP with a design capacity of more than 150,000 m3/day (39,625,800 gallons) and by improving water quality at this drain by increasing the efficiency of WWTPs that discharged daily about 60,000 m3 (15,850,300 gallons) of partially treated wastewater to the drain. The current situation and the two proposed scenarios were simulated by using river pollutant (RP) modeling. It was concluded that the Omar-Bek drain has no significant effect on the Damietta branch water quality and that, instead of changing the path of the drain, improving the efficiency of the existing WWTPs discharging to the Omar-Bek drain and preventing the direct discharge of domestic wastewater to the drain will provide the most effective ways of increasing the water quality of the Damietta branch.
Highlights
The rapid population growth in Egypt significantly expanded the volume of industrial and agricultural activities [1]
The biological oxygen demand (BOD) concentration upstream of the Omar-Bek drain measured about 2.0 mg/L, which agrees with water quality standards specified in Egyptian law 48/1982 and EPA standards (
The river pollutant (RP) modeling showed that discharge from the Omar-Bek drain does not significantly affect pH, total suspended solids (TSS), total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), BOD, DO, and Cl− values in the Damietta branch
Summary
The rapid population growth in Egypt significantly expanded the volume of industrial and agricultural activities [1] This expansion resulted in increased water demand and reduced per capita water availability. At a distance of 129 km downstream of Delta Barrages, the Damietta branch receives discharge from the Omar-Bek drain This drain, located in El-Gharbia governorate, starts from Zefta City and ends at Samanoud City and receives pollution loads from domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes discharged from villages, cites, and drains located along its path [5] [7]. In a 2010 study, Abdo collected water samples from seven stations along the branch, starting from El-Kanater El-Khyria Barrage and ending at Damietta estuary, and concluded that the change in water quality at the Damietta branch resulted from thermal pollution, climatic conditions, agricultural wastes stored behind Faraskour Dam, and sewage wastes at El-Serw City [9]. The main goal of this research involved evaluating the validity of this decision and its impact on the Damietta branch water quality
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