Water quality index of shallow groundwater and assessment for different usages in El-Obour city, Egypt

A lot of wells (about 846) were drilled in El-Obour city for gathering water and injecting it into Miocene aquifer as a solution for waterlogging problem, but this doesn’t solve the problem. So, the main aim of this work is to find a safe solution for this problem through studying the possibility of using this water for drinking, agricultural and industrial uses. Forty-eight representative samples were collected from various locations and analyzed for physical and chemical characteristics. As well as the calculation of water quality index (WQI) by the analysis of twelve physicochemical parameters on the basis of Weighted Arithmetic Index. The results indicate that 54.2% of the samples according to WHO specification for drinking water can be used for drinking after physical simple treatment.The WQI showed that 44% of water samples are excellent and 15% are good for human consumption.The measured electric conductivity and calculated values for sodium absorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percentage (SSP) and Mg-hazard for most samples indicate well to permissible use of water for irrigation purposes. In addition, about 10%to 50% of samples can be used for paper, wood, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, leather tanning and rubber industries according to every industrial application standard. Finally, the results indicate the possibility of using the studied water for different purposes in the study area and its surroundings after primary treatment.