Abstract:
This paper aims to evaluate and map the groundwater quality in the
Gaza Strip by the means of geostatistical procedures including variograms,
Kriging and maps interpolation. Electrical Conductivity (EC) of water is an
easy measure of water quality. It measures the ability to conduct an electric
current due to the breakdown of salts or other chemicals into negatively and
positively charged ions. The purer the water the lower the conductivity.
There are more than 4000 wells within the Gaza Strip, only 109
wells are operated by municipalities. The results of analysis reveal a critical
situation of water quality, where there are only 23 (21.1%) of the wells are
below the safe limit, while the other 86 (78.9 %) of the wells exceed the safe
limits. Spatial maps interpolation show that the west region of Gaza
governorate tends to get impermissible values of EC. Furthermore, due to
lack of sample from wells in the south east of Gaza strip, high values of
prediction errors have been obtained.