MONITORING AND DETECTING LAND AND WATER RESOURCES POTENTIAL FOR RAINFED AGRICULTURE OF WADI MAGED IN WESTERN NORTH COAST - EGYPT USING REMOTE SENSING, GIS AND HYDROLOGICAL MODEL

Egypt belongs to an arid and semi-arid climate region. About 960 000 km² or 96% of the Egyptian area is covered by desert (Sinai Peninsula, Eastern Desert and the Western desert). In the desert, the primary sources of water are rainfall and underground water, which is mostly saline or not available at all. When there is no rainfall, people face drought and famine. Those years without rain also reduce grazing lands, increase livestock mortality and bring additional misery for inhabitants of the areas. The main objectives of this study are: 1) Monitoring and detecting the water resources in terms of potential runoff, wetness index, power index, sedimentary index and finally location of cisterns of wadi-Mages basin in Northern West coast of Egypt, 2) Detecting the catchment areas and identifying the state of the suitable area for cultivation and soil resources at wadi-Mages basin by the integration of RS/GIS technologies through geostatistical analysis and hydrological model. To achieve these aims, it has been choosed the most suitable source of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) by using topographic maps, to identify the drainage network and catchment's areas of basins and sub-basins through DEM-Hydro processing. Estimation of runoff volume and runoff irrigation potential were through rational hydrological formula, and identifying potential sites for water harvesting and soil types of the rainfed agricultural areas of Wadi Maged catchment. Based on the location of outlets and the wetness index, soil samples were collected from 10 soil profiles and defined the soil types based on the results of soil properties. Results showed that Wadi Maged watershed have an area 21094 Fed. It was comprised 9 sub-basins at 2500m stream length with  potential runoff irrigation areas ranged from 7 to 76 Fed. when rainfall is 100 mm/year, and ranged from 11 to 114 Fed. when rainfall is 150 mm/year, and ranged from 18 to 190 Fed. when rainfall is 250 mm/year. About 20 potential cisterns of Wadi Maged basin for runoff water harvesting and storage were assessed and their optimal locations were identified. Wadi Maged basin was classified into 3 classes are Typic Torriorthents, Typic Torripsamments and Lithic Torripsamments in addition to rocky areas. The integrated methodology of this study could be represented as a ready module for applying at different locations for rainfed agriculture in Egypt.