Application of Vertical Electrical Sounding and Water Analysis for Study the Contaminated Area at Al Misk Lake, Eastern Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Waste management, especially dump sites, are the most important problems in developing countries. For Al Misk Lake (Buraiman Lake), there is a threatening environmental problem, as for more than ten years this lake was used for the waste disposable site of Jeddah's sewage. Now it is abandoned, but the leachout of the contaminant is still problem. A concrete dam was constructed to block the migration of contaminants from the lake. The purpose of this research is to use the results of geophysical method integrated with the hydrogeological studies in delineating the contaminant layer emanating from the seepage of sewage water from Al Misk Lake to the end of Wadi after the concrete dam. Vertical electrical sounding was applied to determine the contaminated layer thickness in front and back of the dam. Also, the water samples were collected from some wells to support the results of geophysical method. Results of the vertical electrical sounding show that there is a seepage of contaminated water in front of the dam and the thickness of the contaminated layer at the back of the dam towards lake side is more than that in the front of dam. Whereas, the hydrogeological studies also show the concentration of ions, and TDS are more in back of the dam than in the front.