Study Evaluation Of Groundwater Resources In Wadi Yalamlam

The government of Saudi Arabia has given great attention and effort to supply the holy city of Makkah Al-Mukarramah with sufficient amount of high quality water. The search for and the development of new water resources in the Makkah Al-Mukarramah area is considered among the top priorities as the consumption of water is rising with time. This research aims at assessing the groundwater potentials of the both Wadi Yalamlam and Wadi Adam as an additional strategic future water supply for Makkah Al-Mukarramah area. Wadi Yalamlam is located 70 km south of Makkah city. It drains a large catchment area of 1610 km2. The catchment area starts from escarpment of Ashafa mountains which are characterized by a high amount of annual rainfalls of more than 200 mm. Wadi Yalamlam has surface running water most of the year. Recharge rate was estimated as 20 million m3/year, water discharge to the Red Sea is about 4 million m3/year. Wadi Adam is located 50 km south of Makkah city. It drains a catchment area of about 400 km2, this catchment area is characterized by high amount of rainfall of about 180mm/year. Recharge rate was estimated as 3 million m3/year, water discharge to the Red Sea is about 0.9 million m3/year. The hydrochemical study indicated that the average total dissolved solids in Wadi Yalamlam is 1900mg/l, and in Wadi Adam is 1500mg/l. This means that groundwater is suitable for irrigation purposes only. Concentrations of trace elements are generally within the normal limits