Omar Rimawi

Isotopic analyses and hydrochemistry of the thermal springs along the eastern side of the Jordan Dead Sea—Wadi Araba Rift Valley

Abstract The isotopic composition of the present precipitation as well as the groundwaters of Jordan is found to lie between the eastern Mediterranean and the meteoric water lines. Whereas the isotopic compositions of precipitation and groundwater from north and central Jordan plot between both lines, those of southern Jordan cluster closer to the meteoric water line. The deep sandstone aquifer complex in central Jordan receives water from the overlying Tertiary—Upper Cretaceous units as well as from the sandstones of southern Jordan. Both contributions mix in the eastern part of central Jordan, flow from there in a westerly direction and discharge on the slopes above the Dead Sea. At the interface of fresh groundwater and Dead Sea water, mixing between the latter two waters takes place under a normal geothermal gradient. The water is then discharged as thermal water with an isotopic composition following the equation: δ D = 3.97 δ 18 O − 16.9 (%)

Water chemistry of the Dhuleil aquifer (Jordan) as influenced by long-term pumpage

Abstract The Dhuleil aquifer is located in the northwest of Jordan and represents a major groundwater resource for domestic and agricultural purposes. At present, there are more than 80 wells extracting water from basaltic or limestone formations. Long-term observations have indicated an increase in the groundwater salinity. Chemical analyses of water samples collected from seven wells over a minimum of 12 years have been employed to characterize and determine the cause(s) of increasing water salinity. The results show that the electrical conductivity of each wells water is linearly associated with Cl concentration. Slopes of such relations are almost identical for the basaltic well waters and, thus, reflect the influence of the geological formations on water chemistry. Increasing water salinity was mainly due to increasing Cl salts of Na, Ca, and Mg as indicated by the linear relation between the concentration factor of each cation (a given cation concentration divided by the reported minimum cation concentration) and that of the Cl anion. The SO 4 concentration factors for all well waters did not increase in harmony with these of Cl. The Cl fractional negative charge tended to increase to an average steady-state value of ≈0.8 for all basaltic wells, irrespective of the variation in irrigation practices. These observations suggest that return flow of irrigation leachate was not the cause of the increasing water salinity. Alternatively, deterioration in water quality was hypothesized to be due to excessive pumpage which rendered the exhausted aquifer more susceptible to the limited rainwater infiltrating the natively saline parent materials. This conclusion is further supported by the results of chemical speciation which indicate that all well waters were always undersaturated with respect to gypsum (ion activity products of (Ca 2+ )(SO 2− 4 ) were smaller than K sp of gypsum by more than one order of magnitude). In addition, all well waters were undersaturated with respect to caclite with only a few cases where the waters were in equilibrium with that solid phase. After 25 years of irrigation, soil solution chemistry became similar to that of the DH-16 well water employed in irrigation.

Hydrochemistry of precipitation of northern Jordan

In this paper, the precipitation water quality in Jordan is discussed with respect to a station located in central northern Jordan and supported by analyses from different other locations. In contrast to industrialized countries, precipitation over Jordan is dominantly alkaline. Only after heavy rain does the rainwater turn acidic. The dissolved solids concentration has a weighted average of about 30 mg/l, consisting mainly of Ca, Mg, Na, HCO3, and Cl. Relatively high concentrations of bromide are found in the precipitation water in Jordan, with a weighted average of 180 μg/l. Hence, the high bromide concentration in Jordans water resources can be explained. The presence of alkaline water also explains the genesis of tripoli deposits in some areas in Jordan.

Chemical changes of yeast industry wastewater during infiltration in Ruseifa area, Jordan

Abstract Water quality changes taking place during the infiltration process of treated wastewater produced by the Yeast Industrial Company, Jordan, are discussed. It was found that the COD, NH4 + and PO4 3- contents decreased with depth. More than 80% of NH4 + and about 95% of PO4 3 and COD were removed at a depth of 70 cm in the soil profile. However, the electrical conductivity (EC) of the infiltrated water, which was extracted from different depths, increased gradually due to the dissolutional processes of soluble minerals within the soil profile. Furthermore, the probable effect of the irrigation return flows of the treated wastewater used in irrigation on the groundwater resources of the area are discussed. Generally, it was found that land application of this sort of wastewater is an efficient method of further treatment taking into consideration the negligible effects of the wastewater on the groundwater resources in the area.