To measure the age and origin of the groundwater, 29 samples were collected from different wells during several field expeditions in Egypt.
While groundwater provides only seven percent of the water demand in Egypt, Egyptian water authorities have recently given renewed attention to increasing its exploitation, especially in eastern Egypt, to mitigate the growing water stress and to accommodate agriculture projects. The work resulted in a paper recently published in the Earth and Planetary Science Letters journal. The research was led by doctoral candidate Mahmoud Sherif and Neil Sturchio from UD and Mohamed Sultan from Western Michigan University. Determining the age of water sources helps in those calculations.Ī new study from the University of Delaware looked at chlorine isotopes as chemical tracers to determine the age and origin of groundwaters from the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Knowing how much water is available in the groundwater aquifers and how fast it is being replenished is vital for providing the population with water for drinking and irrigation. In areas far from the Nile River Valley, however, where water is scarce and the population is growing, groundwater is the only available freshwater resource. Newswise - Most of the water used by people in Egypt comes from the Nile River, which originates from precipitation over mountainous areas in the Ethiopian highlands. News Research News Releases Journal News Medical News Science News Life News Business News Expert Pitch Google Fact Check Research Alert Marketplace News With Video/Audio Multimedia RSS Feeds by Latest News Coronavirus News Currently Embargoed