Hydrogeochemistry Department, Desert Research Center, Water Treatment and Desalination, El –Matariya, Cairo, Egypt
Irrigation projects lead to a better use of the available fresh and mixed water is very important for the sustainable agricultural development. Soil profiles represent the area under study were chosen to represented of selected agricultural farms and were dug wide open to a depth of 150 cm or opposed by water table level. Soil texture throughout the entire depth is variable textural composition, from clay to coarse sand at the soil surface. The higher values of soluble cations and anions in these soils may be due to fine soil textured and the seepage of sea water from the Suez Canal. Water samples were analyzed for their physical, chemical properties, besides of the major chemical compositions, ionic ratio (HCO3– /Cl–, Na+/Ca++, Ca++/Cl–, Mg++/ Cl–, Na+/Cl–, K+/Cl–, SO42- /Cl- and Ca++/SO42-) was used to delineate saline water intrusion. The analytical results present the abundance of the ions in the following order: Mg++>Ca++> Na++> K+ = Cl> SO4> HCO3. Chloride is the dominant anion found in the watery soil extract of the study area. Piper tri-linear diagram for the study area shows that there is a mixture of two types of water with variable concentrations of major ions. These are Ca++ – Mg++ – Cl– – SO42- types and Na+/K+/Cl-/SO42- type water. This means that watery soil extract in the area is mainly made up of mixtures of earth alkaline and alkaline metals and predominantly Cl- - SO42- water type. The quality of watery soil extract and the processes that control the concentration of major constituents is very necessary. Achieving these aims will establish a basis for developing an appropriate monitoring programme and therefore improved water management of the area.