The groundwater body in the sands and gravels of the Pleistocene Nilotic
deposits
This aquifer is about 350 m deep and here the underlying Pliocene clay
layer acts as an impermeable front. About 350 billion m3
 of water of a salt
content of 500 ppm are available, with a constant recharge from the Nile
system. Discharge or extraction from this groundwater takes place in the
following areas:
• west of the Nile delta in Wadi en-Natrun and in the Qattara Depression
• east of the Nile delta in Wadi et-Tumeilat, along the Bitter Lakes and the
Suez Canal
• in the lagoons of the northern Nile delta
• in countless wells in the Nile valley and the Nile delta which are used for
irrigation and for drinking-water purposes by households.