The shallow groundwater body in the Mediterranean Calcarenites
The water stored in these marine and terrestrial deposits is rather saline
(1,000 ppm) and is found on top of an intruding wedge of more saline sea
water. This groundwater is used by most of the population settling along the
1,000-km-long Mediterranean coast to the west and to the east of the Nile
delta. Local rainfall provides a limited amount of recharge here.
The groundwater aquifers in the valley beds and in mobile sand sheets,
especially on Sinai and at the Red Sea
These are useful to the local population and are mostly exploited by them
with the help of shallow wells.
3 The Nile (see Figure 6.1)
3.1 The natural hydrological system of the Nile
The Nile, which is known to be the longest river on earth, has its catch-