Use River Pollutant Modeling to Simulate and Predict the Change in the Damietta Branch Water Quality before and after Construction of the Ethiopian Dam

Abstract

This research was conducted on the Damietta branch of the Nile River, Egypt. The Damietta branch receives pollution loadings from the Omar-Bek drain and two power stations located along the path of the branch. The main objective of this research consisted of comparing between the Damietta branch water quality before and after the Ethiopian Dam is built. This comparison was conducted by using the river pollutant (RP) modeling. First, the actual data and the modeling results were compared in order to prove the efficiency and validity of the RP modeling. Findings from regression analysis yielded a strong positive linear relationship (r = 0.987) between the two results. The modeling results showed that Omar-Bek drain had less impact on the Damietta branch water quality. The results also showed that the effluent discharge from the two power stations affected water quality and aquatic life because large quantities of warm and polluted water discharged back into the Damietta branch. The results also showed that constructing the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would slightly increase pollutants concentrations in the Damietta branch and that this increase would cause a slight deterioration in water quality.