Evaluation of Water Quality in Parts of Wadi Fatimah, Western Saudi Arabia

Wadi Fatimah is one of the important sources of groundwater in the western part of Saudi Arabia. It is located to the southeast of Jeddah. It is between latitudes 21 15` and 22 N, and longitudes 39 and 40 30` E (figure 1a,b). Although the main source of water in Jeddah city is the desalination plants on the Red Sea [1,2], the natural groundwater worth to focus the interest. Early in 1972, according to Dekkart [3], it was reported that Wadi Fatimah can produce 12 million gallon of water per day. Based on this report Ain Aziziah decided to construct the third line of water. His report recommended that there must be a compromise between the rate of withdraw water and the rate of recharging. It was reported that the precipitation rate was about 200 ml/year. This leads to that the amount of rainwater is between 100-600 million m3. Hussein and Ibrahim [4] introduced a geological study of different valleys in the western part of Saudi Arabia. Their studies involved Wadi Fatimah.

 Wadi Fatimah basin comprises the most important drainage system in the western province of Saudi Arabia. It is considered as the major important sources of groundwater to the cities of Makkah, Jeddah and the surrounding villages and towns. Trace elements were analyzed in each sample for a total of 17 water quality descriptors (variables) by Sharaf et al [5]. The studied elements were: As, Zn, P, Pb, Ba, B, Si, Al, Li, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Cd, V, and Rb. AlYamani [6] investigated of the potential contamination of groundwater from on-site domestic wastewater systems blasted in weathered and fractured bedrock in the upper reaches of Wadi Fatimah basin, western Saudi Arabia. Groundwater in the shallow alluvial and fractured bedrocks aquifers of Wadi Fatimah, west central Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia was investigated by Sharaf et al [7]. The impact of human activities and natural processes on groundwater quality is one of the major serious problems for sustainable development in this area. They investigated 80 well-representative groundwater samples for the total 17 water quality descriptors (variables) including toxic elements. This was not considered in traditional techniques for water quality assessments. Sharaf [8] described the chemical composition of the groundwater of Wadi Fatimah includes the variations of the groundwater salinity, the major and trace constituents. 

Although many geological studies were found about Wadi Fatimah, none of the previous work concentrated on the water quality. In the present study we found it is useful to study the water quality the cited area in a systematic way, as a part of a general study of water quality in western area of Saudi Arabia. The number of the wells out of work is 15, this is due to the presence of the Abo-Hassani Dam which produce a change in the hydrology of the area. There is a thick layer of clay that was accumulated in front of the Dam. This layer closed the Dam’s holes and prevent the motion of water down the valley in the direction of the wells.