Paper No. 8
Presentation Time: 10:10 AM
WADI EL SA'AYDA LAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: LOCAL EXAMPLE OF EGYPT'S LARGER NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE
PARIZEK, Katarin A., Department of Integrative Arts, Pennsylvania State University, 30 Borland Bldg, University Park, PA 16802, PARIZEK, Richard R., Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 and WALTERS, Elizabeth J., Art History, The Pennsylvania State University, 209 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802, kap5@psu.edu
Egypt is reclaiming extensive desert lands to meet needs of its burgeoning population: 82 million, 99.9 percent of whom live along the Nile. If fully developed, the Wadi El Sa’ayda Reclamation project would cover 11,736 ha of terraced lands up to 55 m above the Nile. Five pumping stations and central water supply canal were constructed by 1998, 3,543 ha brought under cultivation by 2000, 6,742 ha by 2002, but with unanticipated environmental consequences. Examples include rising capillary, confined and unconfined groundwater levels, seep and spring formation along populated escarpments, damage and destruction of artifacts, recent and ancient mudbrick and masonry structures, salinization of fertile Nile farmland and recently reclaimed lands.
Poorly defined groundwater mounds extend at least 20 km along the West Bank of the Nile near Edfu. Variable thicknesses of sand and gravel, colluvium, alluvium and residual soils overlie sequences of bedrock that preclude adequate drainage of irrigation return flows. Lands reclaimed less than 10 years ago are becoming water logged and salinized. Portions of settlements are immersed in irrigation water and sewage increasing mosquito populations and risks of waterborne diseases. Enhanced leakage of artesian waters within alluvial aquifers now adversely influence portions of the Nile Valley cultivated for thousands of years. Even rudimentary hydrogeologic baseline investigations were lacking in initial planning. Hydrogeologists, soil scientist, irrigation and drainage engineers, educators, governmental officials and others must work together to develop effective remedial measures to restore the Sa’ayda project, protect property and develop successful future science-based reclamation projects.
