Abstract
The rapidly increasing population growth in many developing countries necessitates the urgent need for more housing projects to be built even in remote areas. These new housing sites require adequate sewage disposal systems. Inadequate disposal systems may be the source of serious pollution problems, especially to the existing shallow aquifers in these sites. Engila area is an example, located about 20 kilometers west of Tripoli, and is a recently developed residential project where 5000 housing units were constructed in the late eighties. The sewage system for disposal of domestic wastes was not completed and the treatment plant was not implemented at that time. The waste was disposed on the ground surface and accumulated in open surface sewer pond. The surface area of this artificial sewer pond is approximately 20,000 square meters and 15 meters in depth. The objective of this investigation is to assess the impact of the sewer pond on the shallow Quaternary groundwater aquifer and soil environment in the affected area. A reconnaissance field study was carried out just around the pond site during June-July 2006. The conducted investigation included electrical geophysical sounding and chemical analysis of groundwater samples collected from some of the existing nearby water wells around the sewer pond. All VES curves, from Geophysical field investigation, demonstrate destructive Q-type curves, indicating the increase of moisture content with depth to the upper unconfined aquifer. Sampling and analysis of water from some existing water wells in the vicinity of the sewer pond indicate bacteria and other chemical characteristics.