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Modeling the Transport of Potassium Level in Yarmouk Basin Using SWMS-3D Model

Alaeddin Tahboub1 * , Naser Almanaseer1 , Muath Azmi1 and Rakad TA anay1

1 Faculty of Agricultural Technology Department of Water Resources and Environmental Management, Al Balqa’ Applied University, Al-Salt, 19117 Jordan

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.9.3.13

Yarmouk Basin is a transboundary basin shared  between Jordan and Syria. Only 1,426 km2 of the basin total area (7,242 km2) lie within the borders of Jordan. The study area is characterized by altitudes varying from more than 1,150 m in the south to about 200 m below sea level in the northwest. The contamination of groundwater by potassium in the upper aquifer is prevailing in the west part of the Yarmouk Basin. The concentration of potassium ranges between 0-163 mg/l with an average of 7 mg/L. This study aims to evaluate potassium concentrations in the upper aquifer of this basin and to predict future potential of this ion and to find whether these concentrations agree with the safe range or not. The main data were collected from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI). The chemical properties of groundwater wells were analyzed at Al Balqa' Applied University laboratories and compared with the Jordanian standards. The spatial and temporal changes of potassium were studied as a pollution indicator. Pollution of groundwater level maps were generated using a Geostatistical program GS+ version 5.1, with the Kriging interpolation method.  It was concluded that an increase in potassium concentrations for the decade ahead (2020) was noticed. But the tremendous the rise between 2020 - 2030, can be either attributed to intensive cultivation which enhances use of organic and chemical fertilizers, where both are sources of potassium, or to over abstraction of groundwater which enhances potassium along with other pollutants concentrations in groundwater of Yarmouk Basin upper aquifer.

Irrigation; Aquifer; Pollution; Potassium; Groundwater; Contamination; Toxicity

Copy the following to cite this article:

Tahboub A, Taany R, Al Ouran N, Almanaseer N, Azmi M. Modeling the Transport of Potassium Level in Yarmouk Basin Using SWMS-3D Model. Curr World Environ 2014;9 (3) DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.9.3.13

Copy the following to cite this URL:

Tahboub A, Taany R, Al Ouran N, Almanaseer N, Azmi M. Modeling the Transport of Potassium Level in Yarmouk Basin Using SWMS-3D Model. Curr World Environ 2014;9(3).
Available from: http://www.cwejournal.org/?p=7740