Future of Ground Water in African Sahara Desert

The two-dimensional problem of unsteady seepage flow through a confined sand bed of vast plan area is attempted on mathematical lines. The treatment it applied to the ground water reservoir lying under the vast African Sahara Desert with the object of determining the amount of recharge to this aquifer as well as the amount of its storage. Resulting from the mathematical theory derived herein, the future ground water discharges of two main oases in Egypt (namely Kharga and Dakhla) have been predicted, till the year 2000. It is found that the free flow discharge of Kharga Oasis at present can irrigate a cultivated area of about 10,000 acres, the corresponding area of Dakhla Oasis being 22,000 acres. The installation of pumps in Kharga wells increases their discharge by about 15% and those of Dakhla by about 7% only. Owing to various complications in the pump installation, and the low water gain obtained by them, pumps should not be used. Their expenses far exceed the water gain secured by them.