Managing and Controlling Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers in Ain Sukhna, Egypt

Investigating future changes in seawater intrusion (SWI) is an urgent necessity to take precautions to confront this phenomenon affecting groundwater, especially in coastal aquifers. The most prominent reasons causing this worsening phenomenon are sea level rise (SLR) due to climate change and the increased abstraction rate (IAR). The present study examined the effects of these reasons on exacerbating SWI in the coastal aquifers in the Ain Sukhna area in Egypt. A calibrated and validated model was developed to simulate future SWI considering four proposed cases employing the SEAWAT numeric engine in Visual MODFLOW software. These cases included the baseline case for the current conditions, the SLR case, the IAR case, and a combined case of both SLR and IAR. To manage and impede future SWI, the cut-off wall system, and the abstraction, desalination, and recharge (ADR) system were simulated in the model and applied to the worst proposed case. It was concluded that the worst proposed case was the combined case of both SLR and IAR. The IAR case caused more SWI than the SLR case for shallow and medium aquifers. SWI in the combined case affected the deep aquifer the same as the SLR case. The ADR system showed a superior impact on hindering SWI than the cut-off wall system, particularly in the middle aquifer. The effect of the cut-off wall system decreased with time, while the effect of the ADR system increased with time.