Impact of Water Seepage of New Suez Canal on Soil Properties of El-Amal Area, Ismailia East, Egypt

Abstract

: Seawater seepage poses a major problem for agriculture in Egypt’s coastal areas. In 2020, a 285 Faddan area in El-Amal, Ismailia East was selected as a representative soil model for Egypt’s New Suez Canal region to investigate the impact of seawater seepage on soil properties and identify the responsible factors for land degradation, with an emphasis on suitable adaptations to land limitations and climate stressors. Seawater changes the behavior of soil and creates geotechnical problems that enhance soil alkalinity and salinity value. Five soil mapping units (SMUs) were identified with moderately to shallow soils dominating, in a detailed soil survey that was conducted in the field to conduct pedomorphological and physicochemical investigations. The water table had raised by 50–100 cm within the soil pedons. Approximately 45.4 Faddans were recognized as sabkhas due to the inundation of lowlands with seawater. Most study lands (217.2 Faddan) were unsuitable for cultivation due to the higher limitations of salinity, alkalinity, soil structure, and poor drainage under saturation conditions. The salinity of saturated soil reached 29.60 dS/m, posing a major challenge to agriculture. The results indicated that the pedomorphological and physicochemical properties of most study soils had degraded and become unsuitable for cultivation, which was linked to the seawater seepage. It is predicted that the rest lands (SMU1 and SMU2) and other adjacent lands to the study area are expected to change into desertified lands in the future due to continuous seawater seepage. The New Suez Canal’s seawater seepage caused the cultivated fruit trees and other vegetation in the study area to dry up and die. Climate change-induced seawater seepage and drought were the direct causes of soil salinization in the study lands. To achieve long-term sustainability and avoid maladaptive outcomes, an urgent need to adopt an integrated approach for large-scale investments in Egypt’s farming sector is urgently needed for effective policymaking toward achieving food security, with it being recognized that climate change has adverse effects and challenges to the soil resources in Egypt, and therefore, the sustainable planning of natural resources in coastal areas should be further studied and thoroughly managed. Adopting local adaptation actions and strategies for incremental, systemic, and transformational changes at the farm and on large scales in the agricultural sector is critical. The transformational adaptation actions are the suitable practices, followed by incremental and systemic adaptations to combat the agricultural limitations and climate change stressors in the current study lands.