Abstract
Water is a key component in determining the quality of our lives. Today, people are concerned about the quality of the water they drink. Groundwater aquifer is considered the main and the only water supply source for all kinds of human usage in the Gaza Strip which is severely deteriorated in-terms of quality and quantity in the past two decades. In the past years, several researches have been conducted on the enhancement of the role of storm water infiltration system aimed mainly at improving the quality and the availability of water. This paper investigates methods to enhance the storm water infiltration capacity of Sheikh Radwan Reservoir by using soil column pilot experiment of specific sand media and simulating the real situation using the MODFLOW groundwater flow model. The sample of storm water was collected from the reservoir in the wet season, and was allowed to infiltrate through the soil column of 170 cm depth in the soil experiment. The results of soil experiment showed that the quality of infiltrated water (BOD, COD, Suspended Solid, Ammonia) was found to conform to Palestinian standard for aquifer infiltration with 90% percent removal of contaminants, which indicate the effectiveness of the used soil media. The simulation of MODFLOW model was done considering different number and distribution of infiltration wells. The results showed an increase of water quantity in groundwater aquifer with maximum water level mound of 6 m beneath the reservoir after 3 months of flooding, and started to decrease gradually to reach -2 m to -3 m in the dry season which reflect the normal situation. The results of the study showed that 33 infiltration wells are needed to evacuate the collected storm water at the reservoir within 10 days which satisfy the function of the reservoir as flood relief and infiltration. Also it is recommended by the study to increase the sand filter depth to 2 m, in order to improve the removal percentage of contaminants to reach 100%.
Highlights
Groundwater aquifer is the sole sources of freshwater in the Gaza Strip
The Total Suspended Solids (TSS) concentration was reduced from 116 ppm to 15 ppm which made it satisfy the Palestinian standards for infiltration to the groundwater aquifer (20 ppm)
Two major concerns were resolved: 1) With regard to the low permeability of the soil beneath the bottom of the reservoir, the issue was resolved by enhancing the infiltration rate by recharge wells through the impermeable layers
Summary
Groundwater aquifer is the sole sources of freshwater in the Gaza Strip. It suffers from a yearly deficit of 30-40 Mm3 due to over-abstraction of water and low rainfall (200-400 mm/year) (Rabah et al, 2011; CMWU, 2008). The Sheikh Radwan Reservoir is one of the largest storm water collection reservoir in the Gaza Strip. The collected water is usually discharged directly to the sea due to impermeable soil profile beneath the reservoir bottom. The artificial storm water recharge is found to be one of the feasible options to compensate for the Gaza aquifer deficit (Metcalf & Eddy, 2003)
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