DefinePK

Abstract

Groundwater is endangered by agricultural activities, wastes disposal, aquifer over exploitation and seawaterintrusion. The pollution risk is high, as the depth to the water table is shallow and the aquifers are highly permeableand have poor buffering capacity. Intensive farming activities have also put stress on groundwater quality due tointensive use of fertilizers and pesticides. As a result, concentrations of NO-3, SO2-4 and PO4-2 are very high. Most of the house owners do not have access to public sewers, which poses another risk for the aquifers. More than 71.2% of the aerial distribution of nitrate concentration is greater than 44.29 mg/L,thus causing a serious problem. Static waterlevel maps from 1983 to 2000 show the declining of the water level with time. The discharge from Quaternary aquifersexceeds the recharge rates after 1988 resulting in both upward leakage of the deeper high saline water and seawaterintrusion. Factor analyses were used to define the factors that affect the groundwater quality. Dissolution anddepositionof several minerals, evaporation from the groundwater, hurman inpact on the aquifers, cation exchange, mixing betweendifferent waters and rainfall recharge were identified as the main factors impacting the ground waters.