The EFFECT OF DISPOSING Agricultural DRAIN TO A NARROW Sea WATERWAY

Abstract

6.1 GENERAL The thesis studied the impact of the direct disposal of Baloza drain on Suez Canal and tried to prevent this pollution. The water quality analysis of both of them has been recorded and analyzed. Six seasonal readings have been recorded in four locations along the Baloza drain Also; three seasonal readings have been recorded at the drain disposal point in the canal. According to the previous measurements, the problem was found to be the salinity of the drain is much lower than that affected the canal environment and stability. Accordingly, the study proposed five solutions for treatment of the drain water. The first solution is by direct addition of salts to the drain water. It needs 1000 m2 salt storage building and about 6 million L.E. cost. The second solution is mixing of drain water with a huge amount of canal water in a mixing pond to achieve the required TDS of about 40000 ppm. It needs 3500 m2 area for the mixing pond in addition to big pump station and electricity power station for canal water delivery which costs about 17 million L.E. The third solution is using evaporating pond at drain end with no disposing to the canal. It needs 95 feddans area with cost about 2 million L.E. The forth solution is made by the applying Lemna plants as wetland for removal of some salts and discharge the effluent to the ground aquifer to improve its water quality to be used in irrigation. It needs 2.26 feddans area and about 1.2 million L.E. cost. The fifth solution is applying algae ponds to remove about 70 % of the TDS. It needs 5.03 feddans area and 225,000 L.E. cost. After discussing all the previous solutions, comparison between them has been done technically, economically and environmentally to determine the optimum solution for implementation. 6.2 CONCLUSION From all previous work and discussions, the following conclusions are reached as follows: 1. The direct addition of salts to the drain water needs high cost for construction of storage area and huge amount of salts to be 92 provided. This is an inapplicable solution technically and economically. 2. The mixing of drain water with canal water in a mixing requires huge cost for construction and operation. This is an inapplicable solution environmentally and economically. 3. The application of evaporation pond requires huge area for the ponds. This is acceptable solution economically but has bad effect on the environment but no drain water is disposed to the canal. 4. The use of wetland and digging wells for injection to the ground water helps improving the water quality of the drain for reuse in irrigation to plant special crops. This is an acceptable environmental and economic solution and no drain water is disposed to the canal. 5. The establishment of algae pond is an acceptable solution economically and environmentally. This is because the algea can be used in several industries and no drain water is disposed to the canal. 6. Technically, the comparison resulted that the algae pond, the fifth solution, is the best solution then the use of wetland and digging wells for injection to the ground water and the worst is the mixing of drain water with the saline water from the canal. 7. Environmentally, the comparison resulted that the best solution is use of wetland and digging wells for injection to the ground water. 8. Economically, the comparison resulted that the algae pond. 9. Therefore, the optimum solution is the algae pond for it’s the best one technically and economically but environmentally it’s the second one after the use of wetland and digging wells for injection to the ground water which is the second optimum solution to be applied. 6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS From the discussions and conclusions that have been illustrated before, recommendations are suggested and proposed as follows: 1. The solutions discussed before should be applied to all the drains that dispose its water to saline water bodies to reduce the environmental problems. 2. Suitable solutions should be derived out to reach the acceptable reuse of the drains water. 3. New law should be proposed to regulate the direct disposal of agricultural drainage to water bodies. 93 4. New guidelines should be done for the direct disposal of agricultural drainage to water bodies. 6.4 FURTHER WORK From the previous work that has been studied, several future studies should be taken into consideration as follows: 1. Study optional solutions to minimize the salinity along the route of the drain before reaching downstream and regulate the reuse of the drain water. 2. Study the availability of minimizing the salinity of the drain from its beginning. 3. Study the details of the environmental impacts for the solutions and consider it economically to be included in the total cost of the solution. 4. Further investigation for the Lemna plants after using it in the wetland and for the algae after using it in the algae pond.