Occurrence of hypersaline groundwater along the coastal aquifers of Kuwait

Abstract

To understand the process and the source of origin of the hypersaline/brines along the selected locations in Kuwait's, groundwater and sea water samples were collected. The analysis of the samples reveals that a few groundwater samples had Electricity Conductivity higher than that of the seawater. The study was carried out by calculating the ratio of ions to halides such as NO3/Cl, Mg/Cl, Br/Cl, Sr/Cl, Mn/Cl, Li/Cl and V/Cl. The ratios reveal that there were three different types of groundwater: a) groundwater less contaminated with seawater, b) groundwater equally contaminated by seawater and c) groundwater with ionic concentration greater than the seawater. It was inferred that most of the groundwater samples collected near the bay were having higher EC than those that were collected near the open sea. The hypersalinity of the groundwater samples was inferred due to the influence of the effluents of the desalination plants and H2S enriched waters, though there were other processes in operation governed by the pH, anthropogenic sources and infiltration of metal from oil ash near the thermal power plants. The statistical analysis reveals that in certain locations, multiple processes are active to make it more salt enriched.