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Assessment of groundwater suitability for irrigation in Madinah City, Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

In this study, the suitability of groundwater for irrigation purposes in Madinah city, Saudi Arabia was assessed. Of the 23 wells that were drilled in different locations of the city, 20 wells were sampled for water quality analyses. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classification of irrigation water that is based on sodium hazard (SAR) and salinity hazard was used for irrigation suitability assessment. In addition, the residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and soluble sodium percentage (%Na) were calculated for all samples and also used for irrigation suitability assessment. Results showed that all groundwater samples are in the acceptable quality range for irrigation based on RSC values, and the majority of the samples had %Na in the acceptable range for irrigation. When SAR and salinity hazard were assessed, results showed that while almost all groundwater samples fell in the acceptable range of SAR, they were either in the high or very high salinity zones, indicating that the water can be used for irrigation after adopting some management practices. Comparing total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration obtained 35 years ago for the study area with the current TDS values indicates that the recent accelerated urban development in the study area did not significantly impact groundwater quality with regard to irrigation suitability.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Madinah city municipality. The authors thank Eng. Asim Nimnikani and Eng. Ibrahim Harazin for helping with some of the figures presented in this paper. The authors also thank Prof. Walid Abderrahman for helping with data analyses and fruitful discussion. This study was managed by The Research and Consulting Institute at Taibah University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Taibah University, P.O. Box 344, Madinah, 30001, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Mustafa Bob, Norhan Abd Rahman & Saud Taher

  2. Center for Environment & Water, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, P.O. Box 2017, Dhahran, 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Abdalla Elamin

Authors
  1. Mustafa Bob
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  2. Norhan Abd Rahman
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  3. Abdalla Elamin
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  4. Saud Taher
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Correspondence to Mustafa Bob.

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Bob, M., Abd Rahman, N., Elamin, A. et al. Assessment of groundwater suitability for irrigation in Madinah City, Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 9, 38 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2024-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2024-z

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