Distribution Maps of TDS Concentration using GIS at Assiut, Egypt

The scarcity of water is one of the main issues in Egypt. In particular, the extreme climate in the form of less frequent rainfall affects the groundwater availability. Moreover, groundwater has been depleted by the increase in population. In this research, the spatial distribution of groundwater salinity has been developed, and the prediction of groundwater Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) has been made by using geostatistical analysis in Geographic Information System (GIS) software. The study area is the western flood plain from the River Nile in Assiut governorate located in the Upper Egypt. Ordinary kriging method was applied to map the spatial distribution of the ground water chemistry for period 22 month (2009-2010). In predicting the Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) concentration of groundwater distribution maps show increasing toward the western part of the Nile valley closed to western plateau. The lowest value of the Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) concentrations of wells was in the areas close to the River Nile, where the TDS concentration was low than 200pmm around the year 2009 except in January, October, November and December, while the highest value of TDS concentrations was in the area closed to Western Plateau in December 2009 and January 2010 (1000ppm).