Evaluation of the Hydraulic Characteristics of the Groundwater Aquifer in the UM-Rahal Area, Southwestern Iraq

Abstract

     The Um-Rahal area is located within the dry region in southern Iraq - northwest of Al-Muthanna Governorate. The area was studied from a hydrogeological point of view, and the fieldwork included definition the locations of pumping wells as six wells and two monitoring wells were relied on, and the amount of decline and return was measured. In the groundwater level, with a measurement of the electrical conductivity (EC) of the water at the start and end of pumping. It was found that the main Aquifer is the Dammam formation, which represents an unconfined (Unconfined Aquifer), and through the study it was found that the thickness of the Aquifer increases whenever we head to the southwest of the study area and decreases towards the north, at a rate of (63 m). In addition, the study of hydraulic properties showed For these wells, using the data of pumping tests and the method of(Cooper-Jacob,1946), their high rates ranged between (excellent - high), as the water Transmissivity (T) (1640.1 m 2 / day), while the rate of hydraulic conductivity reached (K) (43 m / day), which is classified as a natural resource