Tracer Study of Groundwater Flow System in Kuwait

إن ندرة موارد المياه الطبيعية تتطلب ضمان الاستغلال المستدام لمكامن المياه الجوفية في دولة الكويت من خلال فهم خصائص مكامن المياه الجوفية، وتحديد كيفية تدفقها ونوعيتها في البلاد، وتحديد التفاعلات الحاصلة فيها ضمن المكامن المختلفة والطبقات شبة المنفذة، لاسيما في الحالات التي يتم فيها استغلال تلك المكامن، وتحديد المصادر المحتملة للمياه، وعمرها الزمني، والبيانات الأخرى المتعلقة بها. ومن المعروف أن تحديد توزيع ومعدلات المتعقبات الطبيعة والبيئية (والتي تكون معظمها في صورة نظائر مشعة) في المياه الجوفية من شأنه أن يساعد في تفسير هذه البيانات. كما يمكن زيادة هذه البيانات عبر إجراء الاختبارات الخاصة بالمتعقبات باستخدام آبار الحقن، وآبار جمع العينات والتي تم خلالها حقن المتعقبات في مكامن المياه الجوفية ومن ثم يتم استرجاعها من نفس البئر أو من آبار أخرى قريبة بعد مرور فترة زمنية محددة. وتشمل هذه الدراسة برنامج متكامل لجمع المعلومات.

In the water-starved arid climate of Kuwait, useable (both fresh and brackish) reserves of
groundwater constitute a strategic resource. Although desalination provides bulk of the freshwater
consumed in the country, the brackish groundwater is heavily exploited for agriculture, animal
husbandry, industrial activities and mixing with desalinated water to make it potable. Due to
the near non-existence of direct recharge from rainfall within the limits of the country and withdrawal of exceeding lateral recharge of the aquifers (Dammam Formation and Kuwait
Group) through flow across the country boundary, the brackish water aquifers are practically
being mined. The limited reserve of fresh groundwater has mostly been preserved for emergency
use although a minor fraction is produced for bottling. Increasing use of brackish groundwater
starting from the 70’s, had led to the significant decline in the potentiometric heads in the aquifers
in central and southwestern Kuwait. The scarcity of natural water demands that the long-term
sustainable exploitation of the aquifers is ensured in Kuwait through proper understanding of
the aquifer characteristics, groundwater flow, and quality regime in the country, the interactions
among the groundwater in different aquifers and the aquitards, especially when the aquifers
are being exploited, the sources and age of the groundwater and other related information.
The concentration distribution of the natural and environmental tracers (mostly in the form of
isotopes) present in the groundwater often helps in deciphering this information. The data can
be augmented by the results from tracer tests conducted using injection and sampling wells
where artificial tracers like bromide, rhodamine and fluorescein are introduced in the aquifers
through injection wells and are recovered either from the same well or from the surrounding
wells after some time gap. A program of collection of the information on the distribution of
selected natural and environmental tracers in the aquifer units of Kuwait, supplemented by
tracer tests using artificial tracers is suggested in this proposal. These data and information
will be used in the evaluation of the aquifer hydrology, groundwater flow regime, its quality
variation and age, which in turn should help in devising an exploitation plan for the aquifer
system that should be sustainable in the long term.