Sustainability of Groundwater in the Nile Valley, Egypt

Groundwater is the world’s largest source of fresh water, but its safe and sustainable exploitation remains a challenge. Egypt's Nile Valley aquifer is the most important renewable aquifer, accounting for approximately 85% of total groundwater use in Egypt. Egypt's long-term development and socioeconomic growth in the Nile Valley depends on this groundwater. Concerns about groundwater assessment, quality, management, and sustainability frame the current status of Nile Valley groundwater supplies. Proper knowledge of the current state of the groundwater quantity and quality in the Nile Valley is vital for the development and management of groundwater resources in Egypt. Due to Egypt's water scarcity, the projected decline in Nile River flow due to climate change, and the development of numerous Nile River basin projects, the situation is critical, and the consequences might be severe. Furthermore, Egypt's growing population puts significant strain on groundwater, which is the second most significant freshwater supply next to the surface water supply coming from the Nile River as Egypt’s share. Several books on the various aspects of Egypt's water resources have been published, but there is insufficient recent information on groundwater in the Nile Valley aquifer, which is essential for Egyptian populations for domestic and irrigation purposes. As a result, this book on the groundwater in the Nile Valley aquifer emerges to complete the picture of Egypt’s water resources as a good example of arid country located in MENA regions with many arid countries. Consequently, the lessons learned from this book could be beneficial to other countries in MENA regions, particularly those in North Africa.

Prof. Dr. Eng. Abdelazim Negm is a Professor of Hydraulics (and Water Resources) at the Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Egypt, since 2004. He got his Ph.D. in 1992 from Zagazig University (ZU), and his M.Sc. from Ain shams University in the year 1990. He was the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of ZU from 12/2008 to 12/2011 and was the head of the Environmental Engineering Department at Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), Egypt, from October 2013 to March 2016. He participated in several international projects from 2006 until now and led other international projects. He published more than 400 papers in national and international journals and conferences and contributed to more than 50 book chapters that have been published by Springer Publishing House. Some of his papers were awarded the prize of the best papers. He is the editor of more than 35 Springer books with 12 volumes published in the Springer Handbook of EnvironmentalChemistry Series (HEC Series). He is a member of the scientific committee of several international conferences and a member of the organizing committee of others and participated in more than 90 conferences as well. He delivered several keynote talks at international conferences. Prof. Negm is a reviewer of more than 50 international scientific journals indexed in Scopus and WoS. He was the editor-in-chief of EIJEST during the period of 2017–2020, an editor of the EMJEI, which is published by Springer, and an associate editor of the Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences and Scientific African Journal, which is published by Elsevier. Also, he is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals. Moreover, he is a member of the editorial board of the famous Springer Series titled Handbook of Environmental Chemistry since 2019 and the head of the permanent scientific committee on Water Resources (committee no.115), the supreme council of Egyptian Universities, Egypt. Also, he is a member of IAHR, EGU, APA, IAH,  ACSE, and ASCE. Prof. Negm is listed in the most famous and prestigious directories in the world including the American Biographical Institute (ABI), Inc, USA, “Marquis Who's Who in the World,” 27th Ed., 2010, USA, until now and in IBC's 2000 as an Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century by International Biographical Center, Cambridge, England, since 2011 until the present. He was nominated for various awards by both ABI and IBC during the period 2011–2012.

Dr.-Eng. Mustafa El-Rawy is an associate professor of water resources at the Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, Egypt, since 2018. He received his Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Water Resources Engineering in 2013. He received his M.Sc. from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Water Resources Engineering (IUPWARE programme) in 2008. He received his B.Sc. degreein Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, Minia, Egypt in 2002. He worked as a research scientist at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman on the project of “Managed Aquifer Recharge using Treated Wastewater in Different Geological Setting of MENA Countries” (2014 - 2015). He has been awarded a master's scholarship from the VLIR-UOS, Belgium (2006 - 2008), a PhD scholarship from the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) Programme, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium (2009 - 2013), a postdoctoral Fellowship from Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman (2014 - 2015), and a postdoctoral Fellowship from the Egyptian Ministry of High Education at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium (October 2015 - March 2016). His research experience includes water resources engineering and management, groundwater modeling, managed aquifer recharge (MAR), groundwater-surface water interaction, flood hazards, Climate change, Irrigation WaterRequirements, hydrology, water quality, riverbank filtration (RF), GIS, and artificial intelligence techniques. He is the author or co-author of many journal papers with impact factors, 4 books or chapters in books. Dr. El-Rawy is a reviewer for several international scientific journals that are indexed in Scopus and WoS. Dr. El-Rawy is currently working as an associate professor of water resources at the college of Engineering, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia.