Assessment of Groundwater Quality in the Gaza Strip, Palestine Using GIS Mapping

Abstract

A Geographical Information System (GIS) tool was used to construct thematic maps for groundwater quality in the Gaza Strip. Environmental data were integrated and an overall picture about the spatial variation in the groundwater quality of the Gaza Strip was defined. The integrated spatial maps helped to refine information on land use, soil types, depth to groundwater table, environmental “hot spots”, and contaminant concentra-tions of the study area. The groundwater quality maps have been derived from the results of an eight-year monitoring program for major anions, cations and heavy metals. An environmental hot-spots map was de-rived from potential contaminating sources, showed direct and indirect influences on groundwater quality. The GIS maps showed not only contaminant distributions but also illustrated the need to improve the groundwater quality management methods. Several contaminants pose great problems in the water of Gaza. Integration of water data and GIS maps for all parameters revealed that there is probably no drinking water in Gaza according to the WHO standards. Moreover, the new maps of 2008 could be used as base-line for water planners and policy makers as well as guidelines for the Palestinian people to manage and protect their groundwater. Increased water demand from population and economic growth, environmental needs, land use changes, urbanization, groundwater mining, deterioration of water quality, pollution from local and diffuse sources, environmental hot-spots and impacts on public heath and ecosystems are all factors that can create a severe water quality crisis as well as water shortage problems

Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Drinking Purpose in Rural Areas Surrounding a Defunct Copper Mine

“…This paper presents findings on the chemical composition of the groundwater and investigates the possible geogenic and anthropogenic sources for chemical solutes. Many researchers across the globe (Babiker et al, 2007;Vennila et al, 2008;Shomar et al, 2010 andMagesh et al, 2013) have carried out studies with spatial technologies and interpreted the quality of groundwater. Mapping the spatial distributions of major elements and their interpolation with the geology and land use/land cover maps in GIS environment (Bruce et al, 2003;Zhang et al, 2013) have contributed for the better understanding of the chemical processes of water and the methods of their acquisition.…”

Use of Geographic Information System and Water Quality Index to Assess Groundwater Quality in Rawalpindi and Islamabad

“…GIS and remote sensing have been used extensively by multiple researchers to assess the water quality all over the world, e.g. Aydi et al [3] and Ketata-Rokbani et al [18] in Tunisia, Shomar et al [19] in Palestine, Gamvroula et al [20] and Stamatis et al [21] in Greece, Kumar et al [22] in India, Baawain and Al-Futaisi [23] in Oman. The advancement of GIS and spatial analysis helps to integrate the laboratory analysis data with the geographic data and to model the spatial distributions of water quality parameters, most robustly and accurately.…”

Wastewater Reuse for Alfalfa Production in the Gaza Strip

“…Since June 2003, there has been an agreement between the farm's owner and the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) to allow the farm to use wastewater for irrigation. The sources of maps in this study are explained in details in Shomar et al (2010). Figure 1 shows the base map of the Gaza Strip and the approximate location of the wastewater reuse project.…”