TITLE:
Studying the Impact of Pollution from Wadi Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques
AUTHORS:
Maher A. El-Hallaq
KEYWORDS:
Seawater Pollution, Wadi Gaza, Remote Sensing, Supervised Classification, GIS
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Remote Sensing,
Vol.8 No.1,
March
29,
2019
ABSTRACT:
Wadi Gaza is
considered as one of the most important coastal wetlands located on the Eastern
Mediterranean Basin. It is witnessing rapid degradation due to anthropogenic
activities including but not limited to discharge of municipal sewage, dumping
of solid wastes, rampant use of pesticides and illegal poaching. They form a
river of untreated wastewater, more than 5 km long, before its discharge into
the Mediterranean Sea. This study aims to perform an analytical study of Wadi
Gaza and study its effects on the pollution of the
seawater opposite to it using GIS and remote
sensing techniques. The flow accumulation, the watershed and the stream orders
inside and outside the Gaza Strip are determined based on a DEM which involves a radar terrestrial scanning of Palestine carried out by NASA’s Endeavor Space Shuttle. The area of the watershed inside Gaza is
estimated to be equal to 58.792 km2.
The Study also shows that the total amount of contaminated water that flows
into the sea can be estimated to reach 146.5 mm3/year. The total area of coastal sea contamination
approximately reaches 38.8 km2 and is
oriented to the north direction along the coastal shore and its influence
extends to Gaza seaport, 10 km apart from the Wadi.