Study of Seawater Intrusion to the First aquifer of Zliten Area, Libya

Abstract

Due to the importance of groundwater for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses, this research was conducted to study the seawater intrusion into some boreholes used to pump water by the municipality of Zliten. In this study, 23 groundwater samples were collected in January 2019 from boreholes distributed throughout study area. The water samples were analyzed for concentration of sodium (Na⁺), chloride (Cl^-), calcium (Ca⁺²), magnesium (Mg⁺²), the total dissolved salts (TDS). Also, Jouns" ratio (Na⁺/Cl^-) was used to determine the seawater intruded area along coastal zone. The analytical results showed that the concentration ranges of TDS are (1536-7545 mg/l), Cl^- are (280-3190 mg/l), Na⁺ are (45.5-1256.08 mg/l), Ca⁺² (128-442 mg/l) exceed the permissible limits stipulated by (WHO). According to Jones' ratio, the center of the study area is less than 0.84, therefore, up to a distance of 6 km from the shoreline is affected by seawater intrusion.

Keywords: groundwater, seawater intrusion, sodium and chloride concentration, Jones Ratio.