SPATIAL MODELING FOR GROUNDWATER SALINITY: NEOGENE AQUIFER, AL-HASSA, SAUDI ARABIA

Water sustainability has the highest priority in all countries, whether developed or developing. Geographic information systems (GIS) technology is gaining importance as a useful tool in sustainable water management and development. Groundwater salinity levels in irrigated areas may vary depending on the quantity and quality of applied irrigation water and on the efficiency of the drainage system. Moreover, groundwater salinity plays a critical role in irrigation systems by influencing whether the environment is suitable for plant production. Therefore, it is essential to monitor temporal and spatial changes in ground water salinity. In this study, a spatial model for groundwater salinity was created based on chemical parameters including electrical conductivity, sodium absorption ratio, pH and chloride. The method looks at the spatial and temporal relationships between the main salinity classes available in the study area, their typical locations (i.e. areas where the salinity classes are most frequently located), and the alternate salinity classes in those locations in any of the years of the time series. As a case study, the method was applied to multi-year data (1967-2004) in the Al-Hassa irrigation and drainage project (9000 ha) in the southern part of the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia.