Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Many desert regions are depending on the groundwater as a main source of freshwater. Al Madinah governorate in kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of these regions. It started adopting the desalinated water as a potable water, however, it is still in many areas relying on the groundwater. There are many wells in Al Madinah providing freshwater since hundreds of years and some of them more than a thousand. The water quality of these resources needs to be evaluated to the current standards of drinking and irrigation water. In this work, five big wells in different locations in Al Madinah governorate were investigated to evaluate the water quality of these historical wells. Water samples were collected from these wells and analyzed for determining their chemical, physical and biological characteristics. Examination included properties such as pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids, calcium, total hardness, chlorides, sulphate, nitrate, fluoride, iron and Faecal coliform and total coliform. Results showed high salinity in some wells and suitability of irrigation for others. Results showed also that SaqSaq well in Aal Ola and Othman well in Al Madinah city both are with permissible values except a slight increase in hardness and sodium. Thus, these wells maybe suitable for human drinking but after disinfection process due to the microorganism presence.

Keywords: groundwater, freshwater, water quality, salinity, physiochemical properties, microorganism