Potential Impacts on Surface Water Quality from the Utilization of Oil Shale at Lajjoun Area/Southern Jordan Using Geographic Information Systems and Leachability Tests

摘要

Surface water is one of the major water resources for drinking and agricultural purposes in Jordan. It is the largest contributor to the irrigation sector and it is the second largest source for domestic consumption. Jordan also has a huge amount of oil shale that exists in the Southern and Eastern parts of the country. It is estimated that Jordan lias a reserve of 50 billion tons of oil shale. The oil shale deposits in these locations are shallow and near the surface and can be utilized by an open cut mining method. The ash is considered one of the most important factors in selecting suitable and more economical utilization technology for Jordanian oil shale. Oil shale ash is considered one of the main environmental challenges and barriers, which stand in the way of developing oil shale industry in Jordan. The main concern in this case is that ash might reach nearby surface water resources in the area. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of pollution of surface water resources in Lajjoun area/Southern Jordan as a result of oil shale development. It assessed the potential impacts on surface water quality from the utilization of oil shale using geographic information systems and leacliability tests conducted on oil shale ash that might result from two possible utilizations of oil shale; producing electricity through direct burning of oil shale and extracting oil from oil shale. It was found that surface water resources in the Lajjoun area have a medium-low to high susceptibility to pollution, and the flow direction from the Lajjoun area could reach Al-Mujib dam in 4 h. Also, the leachability tests showed that there will be substantial amounts of Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl, SO_4, HCO_3, Fe, Cr, Cd, and Pb as possible leachates to surface water from both types of oil shale utilizations: oil extract and electricity generation.