Management of Treated Wastewater and Flood Water Using GIS for Environmental Protection in Jordan

Abstract

Management of various water resources has become a pivotal need for all catchments and sub-catchements in Jordan. Storing treated wastewater applied in reservoirs that originally constructed to store flood and base flow water in the country. This practice has proved detrimental to the originally good quality reservoir waters, leading to additional water quality deterioration such as eutrophication issue. Hence, separating treated wastewater from flood and base flow waters to guarantee the availability of better quality waters for higher quality uses such as drinking or recreation. This study focuses on the dams constructed in Kafrain and Shueib catchments, lying west and northwest of Amman. The results of hydrological, hydrogeological, geological, water quality and terrain measurements using Remote Sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS) and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) show that there are nine potential dam sites in the two catchments to construct. In Shueib catchment, two proposed dam sites were selected as suitable dams for fresh water harvesting and groundwater artificial recharge. While, two suggested dam sites are located downstream of Al-Salt and Fuhais wastewater treatment plants for treated wastewater collection. In Kafrain catchment, three proposed dam sites were selected as suitable dams for fresh water harvesting and groundwater artificial recharge. Whereas, two suggested dam sites are located downstream of Wadi Sir wastewater treatment plant, hereby, it can be used to collect the treated wastewater. The study is expected to serve as an example for other catchments in Jordan and elsewhere, especially in water scarcity areas where treated waste water is stored together with flood and base flow waters.