In the upcoming years, Egypt will be facing challenges meeting its increasing needs for freshwater resources compounded by the reduced River Nile flow due to the completion of the construction of the Renaissance Dam along the Blue Nile. Our recent findings from STDF- and NASA- funded projects indicated that Lake Nasser is the main source of modern recharge to the Dakhla subbasin and that rapid turbulent groundwater flow occurs along an extensive network of faults and karst topography that carries the infiltrated waters tens to hundreds of kms across the Western Desert. We propose to address these challenges by:
(1) delineating the regions across which preferred groundwater flow from Lake Nasser occurs using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment [GRACE] and GRACE-Follow-On data (TASK I),
(2) conducting structural analysis over the GRACE-defined preferred groundwater flow regions, using remote sensing data (Sentinel-2, WorldView, DEM) and field observations to generate connectivity and permeability maps from which the preferred pathways will be identified (TASK II),
(3) verifying the identified preferred pathways using geophysical (gravity, Very Low Frequency [VLF], Electrical Resistivity [ER], Transient Electromagnetic [ER], and Magnetic Resonance Soundings [MRS]) and existing wells over the identified preferred pathways (TASK III),
(4) geochemical analysis (O, H isotopic compositions, anions, cations, natural radioactivity) of groundwater from drilled wells along the preferred pathways to investigate its origin and its quality (TASK IV), and
(5) developing a web-based GIS to host all of the acquired and generated datasets (TASK V). The project will be conducted jointly by researchers from Western Michigan University, and the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), and in consultation with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), represented by the General Authority of Reconstruction Projects and Agriculture Development, High Dam Lake Development Branch. Throughout the project, the Egyptian counterpart will be trained on TASKS I, II, IV, and V through virtual and face-to-face workshops.