ABSTRACT: Drilling information, historical water table levels, groundwater salinity records of the existing water wells in Wadi Al Bih area, United Arab Emirates, were stored in a geodatabase and used to characterize the geological and hydrogeological settings of this area. A 2D earth resistivity imaging survey was conducted for the first time in the Northern UAE to determine the potential of the Quaternary aquifer and its groundwater quality in the areas where there are no monitoring wells. The results of the chemical analyses of the collected groundwater samples together with the inversion results of the resistivity data were used to draw a total salinity map and determine the spatial variations in groundwater quality. The inversion results of the 2D earth resistivity imaging data indicated that the Quaternary aquifer in the study area is in a good connection with the underlying carbonate aquifer. It also indicated that the carbonate aquifer is of major regional and vertical extension and it contains the fresh water in this area. The data stored in the developed database were used to produce different types of geopotential maps.

ABSTRACT: Arid coastal regions are more vulnerable to groundwater deterioration problems. Intensive groundwater abstraction from the coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham, United Arab Emirates, caused a severe saltwater intrusion problem. Given the deterioration of groundwater quality, domestic water supply from well fields have been terminated and replaced by desalinated seawater. In addition, many farms in southeast Fujairah city have been abandoned. This paper develops a two-dimensional finite element groundwater flow and solute transport model to simulate the spatial and temporal variations of the salinity distribution in the coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham, taking into account the transition zone between freshwater and seawater bodies. All simulations were conducted in the horizontal view under transient conditions. The available historical records of the water table levels were used to calibrate and validate the developed model. Emphasis was placed on the response of the transition zone to different pumping scenarios in Wadi Ham. The results indicated that the seawater intrusion problem has evolved rapidly during the last two decades. Unlike previous investigations, this study presents the most accurate quantitative and qualitative assessment of available groundwater in the Wadi Ham aquifer under different pumping scenarios

ABSTRACT: Arid coastal regions are more vulnerable to groundwater deterioration problems. Intensive groundwater abstraction from the coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham, United Arab Emirates, caused a severe saltwater intrusion problem. Given the deterioration of groundwater quality, domestic water supply from well fields have been terminated and replaced by desalinated seawater. In addition, many farms in southeast Fujairah city have been abandoned. This paper develops a two-dimensional finite element groundwater flow and solute transport model to simulate the spatial and temporal variations of the salinity distribution in the coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham, taking into account the transition zone between freshwater and seawater bodies. All simulations were conducted in the horizontal view under transient conditions. The available historical records of the water table levels were used to calibrate and validate the developed model. Emphasis was placed on the response of the transition zone to different pumping scenarios in Wadi Ham. The results indicated that the seawater intrusion problem has evolved rapidly during the last two decades. Unlike previous investigations, this study presents the most accurate quantitative and qualitative assessment of available groundwater in the Wadi Ham aquifer under different pumping scenarios

ABSTRACT: A water resources database was developed and used to characterize the geological and hydrogeological settings of groundwater aquifers in the northern part of the United Arab Emirates. An intensive 2D Earth Resistivity Imaging (ERI) survey was conducted in selected areas to assess the available groundwater resources and delineate the salt-water intrusion. Drilling information of the existing monitoring wells as well as their records of water table elevations and groundwater salinity were used to measure the horizontal and vertical variations in lithology, degree of saturation, and groundwater salinity and thus to improve the interpretation of ERI data. The results of the chemical analyses of water samples collected from the wells along with the 2D ERI survey profiles were used to obtain an empirical relationship between the inferred earth resistivity and the amount of total dissolved solids. This relationship was used along with the true resistivity sections resulting from the inversion of 2D ERI data to identify and map three zones of water-bearing formation (fresh, brackish, and salt-water zones) in the coastal areas. The results indicated that the depth to the fresh-brackish interface exceeded 50 m at the upstream of the wadies and was in the order of 10 m or less in the vicinity of shoreline. Because of the high resistivity contrast between dry and water saturated fractured rocks; this method was very successful in detecting water-filled fractures and cavities in the carbonate aquifer. The application of this method was unsuccessful in clayey aquifers as it was not possible to isolate lenses of gravel and/or saturated with saline or brackish water from the surrounding clayey materials.