Volume:
Volume 10,
2017
Issue:
Issue 1 ,
2017,
June
A Review of Seawater Intrusion in the Nile Delta Groundwater System - The Basis for Assessing Impacts due to Climate Changes, Sea Level Rise and Water Resources Development M
On Friday, 30th of June, 2017. 04:44:57 AM
By M.B.Mabrouk
Topic: Enviromental aspects of river engineering
Paper |

|
AbstractSerious environmental problems are emerging in the River Nile basin and its groundwater resources. Recent years have brought scientific evidence of cl read more
Serious environmental problems are emerging in the River Nile basin and its groundwater resources. Recent years have brought scientific evidence of climate change and development-induced environmental impacts globally as well as over Egypt. Some impacts are subtle, like decline of the Nile River water levels, others are dramatic like the salinization of the coastal aquifer of the Nile Delta - the agricultural engine of Egypt. These consequences have become a striking reality causing a set of interconnected groundwater management problems. Massive population increase that overwhelmed the Nile Delta region has amplified the problem. Many researchers have studied these problems from different perspectives using various methodologies and objectives. However, they all confirmed that significant groundwater salinization has affected the Nile Delta and this is likely to become worse rapidly in the future. This article presents, categorizes and critically analyses and synthesizes the most relevant research regarding climate change and development challenges in relation to groundwater resources in the Nile Delta. It is shown that there is a gap in studies that focus on sustainable groundwater resources development and environmentally sound protection as an integrated regional process in the Nile Delta. Moreover, there is also a knowledge gap related to the salinization deterioration of groundwater quality. The article recommends further research that covers the groundwater resources and salinization in the whole Nile Delta based on integrated three-dimensional groundwater modelling of the Nile delta aquifer. less
Assessment of the Impact of Different Vegetation as Riparian Zones in Controlling Nutrients and Sediment Flow Into Water Bodies
On Friday, 30th of June, 2017. 04:28:31 AM
By francis karanja kigira
Topic: Enviromental aspects of river engineering
Paper |

|
AbstractIn this case study nutrients and sediment were considered to be an important water quality concern in Nyangores Catchment in the larger Upper Mara Cat read more
In this case study nutrients and sediment were considered to be an important water quality concern in Nyangores Catchment in the larger Upper Mara Catchment shown in figure 1 due to high eutrophication of the river as is evident at some sections of the river. Nitrogen and Phosphorous originates from inorganic and organic fertilizer that affect the river water quality due to intensive agricultural farming and livestock grazing. Increased fertilizer application has enlarged N and P nutrient burden into the river through runoff leading to pollution and consequently eutrophication.Three plots of different vegetations were set up to represent different scenarios of riparian vegetation. Plots representing natural forest, grassland and bare land a distance of twenty meters apart to avoid disparity , were set up to determine their effectiveness in controlling the nutrients. The plots each measured 2m by 10m were set up for Natural forest, bare ground and grassland field. Runoff samples were collected from the plots on rainy days, and taken to the laboratory for Ph, Ec, NO3 and PO4 analysis. From the samples analysis the results showed the Ph for the natural forest, bareland and grassland were 7.0, 6.8, and 6.5 respectively, for the nitrates were natural forest 0.20 mg/l, bareland 0.5 mg/l, grassland 0.3 mg/l for phosphates forest it was 0.01gm/l for bareland it was 0.57 mg/l and for grassland 0.55 mg/l. For the Electrical conductivity, forest gave 0.4 mhos, bareland 0.5 mhos and 0.2 mhos for grassland. There is a clear indication that Natural forest on top of controlling the Ph and Ec better than grassland, it has a natural sink for nitrates and phosphate. It is therefore recommended that natural forests be reserved and that grass should be used as an alternative for riparian zones. less
Flow Forecasting and Skill Assessment in the Blue Nile Basin
On Friday, 30th of June, 2017. 04:18:08 AM
By Gehad H. Nassar
Topic: River morphology
Paper |

|
AbstractThe long term (seasonal) flow forecast provides an opportunity to improve the planning and management of water resource and hydropower especially for read more
The long term (seasonal) flow forecast provides an opportunity to improve the planning and management of water resource and hydropower especially for countries-like Egypt- that facing water scarcity. The main purpose of this study is to assess two different forecast methods; the Extended Stream Flow Prediction (ESP) and the European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF S4) for forecasting the stream flow in the Blue Nile Basin in order to show the strength and weakness in both methods in providing skillful seasonal streamflow forecast that support the early warning system for flood and drought mitigation and adaptation. For both methods, the Nile Forecast System (NFS) hydrological models were used. The results show that both methods are highly correlated with the observed flow in the Blue Nile Basin. The ECMWF showed high efficiency in forecasting peak flow, especially at Diem station, and its overall performance in Diem station was better than for Khartoum. The performance of the ESP forecasted flow showed high efficiency when starting forecast in September for both stations, while it is underestimated when starting forecast in May. less
Development of Empirical Formula to Estimate Short Duration Rainfall
On Friday, 30th of June, 2017. 04:06:29 AM
By Eman El Sayed
Topic: Other
Paper |

|
AbstractDaily rainfall data is more available than short duration (10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 minutes). Short duration rainfall is highly required for hydrologica read more
Daily rainfall data is more available than short duration (10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 minutes). Short duration rainfall is highly required for hydrological analysis, proper design of drainage system in urban and to propose and design different hydraulic structures. The objective of this research is to develop an empirical formula for generating short duration rainfalls depth using 24 hr rainfall depth. Rainfall data from 12 stations in Sinai were collected and analyzed to estimate the maximum rainfall depth at different durations. Depth ratios at each duration are calculated based on 24 hr depth for each gauge. Also, frequency analyses are carried out. Average ratios of storm depth at durations of 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 minutes with respect to 24 hours depth were calculated for each return period. Weighted average of the ratios is calculated according to the number of records at each gauge. These ratios were used to develop an empirical formula to estimate short duration rainfall up to two hours. Also, similar ratios were obtained from WRRI-24hr storm distribution developed by the author. These developed ratios were compared with other common ratios such as Bell’s ratios and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) empirical reduction formula. These ratios were used to estimate the rainfall depth for the hydrological model to compute the runoff. The result shows that there is a distinct difference between the developed ratios and the other ratios. To quantify the impact of calculation of rainfall storm depth based on these ratios, Rainfall-runoff model is used to compute runoff volume and discharge. The results of the model showed that the computed runoff using the developed ratios is significantly higher. As the developed ratios are mainly based on field records, therefore they can be considered more accurate for Sinai region. It is recommended to use the developed formula to reduce the available 24 hours rainfall values and obtain the required short duration rainfall for the hydrological model applications. less
ET0 Estimation Using Satellite Meteorological Data and Exploratory Regression Tool
On Friday, 30th of June, 2017. 04:01:39 AM
By Hala M. Ebaid
Topic: GIS and modeling applications in river engineering
Paper |

|
AbstractEvapotranspiration is an important component of the hydrological cycle and its accurate quantification is crucial for the design, operation and manage read more
Evapotranspiration is an important component of the hydrological cycle and its accurate quantification is crucial for the design, operation and management of irrigation systems. The aim of the present work is to investigate satellite-sensed meteorological data in estimating reference evapotranspiration (ET0) for some Egyptian governorates, for the months between 1998 and 2000; and to assess the order of the meteorological factors affecting ET0 value. Besides estimating the best empirical models for ET0 as an output from least square analysis that comprises the most influence climatic variables. Air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed were daily collected from MERRA 2 from NASA. Daily Solar Irradiance was collected from Meteosat satellite images which processed using Heliosat-2 method. Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) were calculated monthly based on: 1. agro-meteorological stations and 2. satellite data using FAO-Penman- Monteith (FPM). Exploratory Regression based Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was applied to analyze all possible combinations of the input climatic variables to evaluate the most significant parameters in ET0 estimated models for Kafr El Shikh, El Sharkia, El Mnofia, El Behira, Damiata and El Fayoum Governorates. The results indicate 1- strong correlation (R2) between calculated ET0 based satellite data and ET0 based climate station, which ranged between (0.90 - 0.97). 2- The order of the meteorological factors affecting ET0 from strong to weak is temperature (95%), radiation (95%), relative humidity (32%) and finally the wind speed (18%). The resulted R2 between ET0 estimated based on OLS empirical model applying satellite parameters and ET0 based (P-M) applying climatic station parameters is almost equal to R2 between ET0 based (P-M) applying satellite parameters and ET0 based (P-M) applying climatic station parameters, being on average 0.93. less
Hydrological Response of the Blue Nile Catchment to Downstream Flows Prediction
On Friday, 30th of June, 2017. 03:50:47 AM
By Igbal Salah
Topic: GIS and modeling applications in river engineering
Paper |

|
AbstractIt is aimed in this study to deal with one of the main water resources basins in the Sudan, the Blue Nile Basin, and the most variable tributary of th read more
It is aimed in this study to deal with one of the main water resources basins in the Sudan, the Blue Nile Basin, and the most variable tributary of the Nile River which contributes on average more than 60% of the Nile annual yield measured at Aswan. In Sudan, management of the Blue Nile Basin is encountered by high seasonality of the river flow, high sediment load and reducing capacities of existing reservoirs besides probable impacts of upstream development projects. Absence of timely information on rainfall over Ethiopian highlands, and of a reliable monitoring and forecasting system make Sudan vulnerable to devastating floods. SWAT model has been chosen in this study as rainfall runoff model to simulate the process of water movement through the Blue Nile catchments in Ethiopia (a total area of 170573 Km2). In this basin, annual mean rainfall and potential evaporation range, with increasing elevation, from 924 mm to 1845 and from 1800 mm to 1200 mm, respectively. The model was verified by comparing simulated flows with the recorded daily flows measured at the outlet of the catchments at Eddeim station located near Sudan Ethiopia border over the period 2007-2012. Results of SWAT model have concentrated to fit the peaks of the Blue Nile flow hydrograph. On the other hand, an excel worksheet analysis has qualitatively dealt with estimating of the total dry season flows depending on rainfall at two meteorological stations namely Gonder and DebreMarkos located in Ethiopia. Preliminary results show that only 10% of total rainfall is reflected as runoff at Eddeim. less
Issue:
Issue 2 ,
2017,
December
Applying Deficit irrigation and Natural Stimulant Materials Fertilization for cucumber yield enhancement under Greenhouse
On Sunday, 28th of January, 2018. 06:41:49 AM
By Nessrien Sayed Abdelkareem
Topic: Deficit irrigation
Paper |

|
AbstractDeficit irrigation combined with appropriate type of fertilizer is commonly considered as the best management practice for irrigated agriculture. This read more
Deficit irrigation combined with appropriate type of fertilizer is commonly considered as the best management practice for irrigated agriculture. This research was conducted to study the influence of applying deficit irrigation and natural stimulant materials fertilization under greenhouse condition on yield and quality of cucumber and soil chemical characteristics.
A field experiment was conducted in 2016- 2017 and using a split plot design with four deficit irrigation (0, 10, 20 and 30%) and with three fertilizer types (chemical, humic and algea) as the main and split plots, respectively. The results revealed that 30% deficit irrigation with algea fertilizer is more efficient than 0% deficit irrigation and common fertilizer (chemical) to obtain maximum yield of cucumber, water use efficiency and net profit. Common fertilizer has a higher negative impact on the soil where it increases the content of heavy metals followed by the humic while the algea is considered the least harmful for soil. In addition it increases the efficiency of water use and net profit.
less
Effect of Irrigation Scheduling and Chemical Fertilizer on the Yield of Onion at Megech Irrigation Scheme
On Thursday, 18th of January, 2018. 08:44:44 AM
By Ertiban Wondifraw Woldegebriel
Topic: water scarsity managemnt
Paper |

|
AbstractExperiment to study the interaction effects of irrigation and fertilizer on yield of onion was carried out at Megech-Seraba irrigation scheme, Denbiaw read more
Experiment to study the interaction effects of irrigation and fertilizer on yield of onion was carried out at Megech-Seraba irrigation scheme, Denbiaworeda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Completet Block Design (RCBD), and investigated in 2011/12 and 2012/13irrigation seasons. Totally six treatments were tested: two irrigation depths (ID) namely: 31mm and 25mm were combined with three NP fertilizer levels (50/46, 50/138, 100/138, kg/ha). P2O5 fertilizer was applied to each plot at transplanting and N fertilizer was applied in two splits; at transplanting and 45 days after transplanting. All the necessary management practices were made the same for each plot. Data were analyzed using SAS statistical software to determine variance and LSD at 5% level of significance. Soil nutrient information, agronomic and economic data were collected. The soil analysis result showed that, generally the soil status of the area is good for onion production under irrigation condition. For instance, the pH of the soil in the study area is found to be 6-7 which suits best for onion cultivation. The ANOVA for the agronomic data revealed that there was no significant interaction effect between irrigation water depth and N/P2O5 fertilizers. The biological yield result indicated that the use of 100/ 138 kg/ha N/P2O5 fertilizers gave significantly higher onion total yield. However, there is no significant difference between irrigation depths. On the other hand, the partial budget analysis gave a different result from the biological result, the partial budget analysis revealed that application of 50/ 46 kg/ha N/P2O5 fertilizers with 25 mm/7 days irrigation interval can benefit farmers more among other treatments. Therefore, this result (50/ 46 kg/ha N/P2O5 fertilizers with 25 mm/7 days irrigation interval) is recommended for the area. less
Ridging and Tie-Ridging of vertisol, a tradeoff between rainfall extremes, and its effect on yield performance of Sorghum (sorghum b.) and soil moisture variability at North Gondar, Ethiopia
On Thursday, 18th of January, 2018. 07:55:36 AM
By Ertiban Wondifraw Woldegebriel
Topic: Management of water scarcity
Paper |

|
AbstractAbstract
The effect of timing tie-ridging on the yield and yield components of sorghum was studied at
Gumara-Maksegnit watershed, Gondar Zuria wored read more
Abstract
The effect of timing tie-ridging on the yield and yield components of sorghum was studied at
Gumara-Maksegnit watershed, Gondar Zuria woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, with a budget
support of ICARDA project. The experiment was implemented during 2014, to 2016 seasons at farmer’s
plot where vertisols is dominant. Sorghum (sorghum b.) is the fourth most important world
cereal after wheat, rice and maize. It is a staple food in the drier parts of tropical Africa, India
and China (Pursgrove, 1995). Sorghum is a major and one of the leading traditional food crops
in Ethiopia with approximately 297,000 ha production area coverage per annum (Wortmann et
al., 2006), which comprises 15-20% of the total cereal production in the country. Climate
change is a threat to crop productivity including in most vulnerable region of the world,
particularly the semi-arid regions where higher temperature and increase in rainfall variability
could have substantially negative impact (Abdulai A. et al., 2012). In the study area the amount
of annual rainfall ranges from 995 to 1175 mm; more than 70% of the rain occurs within three
months (from June to August). During these months water logging occurs in the vertisols.
However, after August when a peak time of flowering for many crops started; the amount of rain
decreases dramatically and plants face water shortage. Consequently it causes high yield
penalty. Thus, there is a concern on the occurrence of unbalanced soil moisture which demands
an urgent attention. Therefore it is important to manage the soil moisture (for appropriate plant
support) during these two contrary phenomenon happed in one season in the watershed. Tie-riding is a common practice to balance soil moisture by releasing water from the plots when it is
excess and by harvesting water into the plots for extended plant use. Many studies confirmed the importance of tie ridging for soil water balance (McHugh et al., 2007); (Temesgen, 2007); (Araya and Stroosnijder, 2010) and (Biazin B., et al., (2012). But in the study area the nature of the rainfall is erratic type, it was critical to evaluate when tie-ridging should be done during the growing season for best performance of sorghum. Therefore, this study was done to evaluate timing of tie-ridging for sorghum yield. The experiment was laid out in a
randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replications. There were 8 different timing of tie-ridging treatments. All the necessary management practices and inputs (87kg N and 46 kg P2O5 per hectare) were supplied equally for each plot. Soil moisture of the treatments was monitored at specified time and all the necessary agronomic data were collected. Data were analyzed for variance andLSD at 5% level of significance. The result revealed that timing of tie-ridging had significant effect on grain and stover yield of sorghum. The maximum yield was recorded at planting at flat land, ridged three weeks after planting and tied 6 weeks after planting.
less
HYDRAULIC DESIGN OF INTAKE CHANNELS IN DRAINAGE CANALS OF HIGHLY SUSPENDED SEDIMENT LOAD - CASE OF “EL-QATEE” LIFTING PLANT
On Wednesday, 27th of December, 2017. 02:41:11 AM
By Abdelhamed khater
Topic: River morphology
Paper |

|
AbstractOne of the main concepts of design intake structures is to minimize the sediment ingression into the pump house and guarantee pump efficiency and achi read more
One of the main concepts of design intake structures is to minimize the sediment ingression into the pump house and guarantee pump efficiency and achieve less frequency of dredging. In most of the cases this concept can be satisfied through the design of a sediment trap within the intake structure to capture most of the sediment load entre the intake. In this paper, the objective of minimizing the sediment load reach to the pump suction point is examined under the case of water ways with highly suspended sediment concentration. It was reported that the intake structure and intake channel for a lifting plant at Fayoum Governorate called “El-Qatee” are suffering from very high sedimentation problems. Sediment accumulates and fill the channel every four months and partially block the entrance and decrease the pump subtraction capacity. The sedimentation process at the channel was simulated and analyzed through the development of a 3-D morphological model using cohesive and non-cohesive sediment modules of Delft3D model. The model was hydro-dynamically and morphologically calibrated against field data collected for the study in May 2015. Different design criteria were checked to minimize the deposition rate. Design that maintain high velocities to prevent the deposition of fine suspended materials gave a good results and prevented the accumulation of the sediment in the channel. Based on the detailed simulation results and analysis, the alignment and dimensions of intake channel with its approaching channel have been modified in order to hydraulically satisfy both the sedimentation problem solving and the suction blocking prevention. less
Water Balance Management in Closed Lakes - (Case Study: Lake Quaron, Egypt)
On Monday, 25th of December, 2017. 05:51:28 AM
By Yasser Mohamed Shawky
Topic: River Structures
Paper |

|
AbstractThe motivation for the present work comes from the fact that severe problems could be happened due to the dramatic changes of water levels in relative read more
The motivation for the present work comes from the fact that severe problems could be happened due to the dramatic changes of water levels in relatively shallow closed lakes. High water levels can cause inundation of the lake surrounding areas while low water levels can increase the salinity of its water. For that, the management of water balance in this kind of lakes is highly required. In this research, Lake Qaroun, El-Fayoum, Egypt was taken as a case study for managing the water balance in shallow closed lakes. Based on the short term water resources plan for El-Fayoum Governorate and the range of Lake water levels which ensures water salinity within the permissible limits, a numerical model was employed and different scenarios for the Lake water balance were tested. Results were obtained and analyzed, from which it was clear that the water balance could be achieved at water levels of - 43.55 m and - 43.77 m. Moreover, a management role was recommended to help the decision makers to set a management plan for the Lake. In addition, relations between water volume, water surface area and water levels were established and three equations were deduced. less