The population increase in Egypt and the supply limited freshwater resources of Egypt has driven
the national policy in recent years to encourage investment in tourism, and establish touristic resorts
in coastal areas. Desalination plants play a major role in closing the gap between supply and demand
for the fresh water in coastal areas. An environmentally friendly and cost effective design for the brine
disposal system is essential. The aim of this research is to develop charts for designing and managing
the injection and discharge wells in coastal areas, minimizing the impact on ground water. A numerical
modelling study was carried to simulate the ground water extraction and brine disposal using Visual
MODFLOW three-dimensional groundwater flow and contaminant transport modelling application.
Eighty different scenarios were tested by varying the brine injection rate, spacing between production
and injection wells, initial concentration of the aquifer, concentration of the injection well, type of soil
and screen location. The model results revealed that the lateral extent of the salt plume is directly
proportional to the rate of injection. Moreover, the injection well should be deeper than the discharge
well for achieving the optimal design for the injection and discharge wells. Also, the salt plume lateral
extension is directly proportion to the hydraulic conductivity of the soil. |
