Effect of Reject Brine Form Desalination Plant on Soil Properties in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The world is facing a growing challenge in maintaining good quality of water for human consumption, particularly in arid regions such as in Saudi Arabia. Water research studies clearly showed a sever depletion of groundwater and deterioration of water quality as a result of rapid growing population, and the expansion of industrial and agricultural activities. This situation necessitated the finding of alternative water resources in the region, which led to have many desalination plants to produce potable water using seawater on the coast area and groundwater inland. The reject brine from the seawater desalination is generally discharged to sea, but inland plan, it is discharged to ponds or to the surface. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the chemical composition of well, product, reject brine and pond waters and the characterization of the inland soils. To achieve that on soils, two transects were done and soil samples at three depths (0-15, 15-30, and 30-45 cm) were collected from the site and analyzed for bulk density and chemical composition. Water samples showed that there is an increase in TDS from 1000 ppm in well water to over 8300 ppm in the reject brine and pond water. It has been hound from the study that reject brine caused sodicity problem which had adverse effects on soil properties and natural vegetative in the area surrounding the desalination plant.