Abstract
The city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is having severe problem of groundwater rise in most of its districts. The average groundwater rise in some districts ranges between 0.36 and 0.58 m/yr with a maximum of up to 2.04 m/yr. Locally, the groundwater level is now close the ground surface, and hence large bodies of water may be seen ponding in some of these districts. Four different parameters were found to affect the ground condition and consequently lead to the groundwater rise. These parameters are the ground surface topography, the aquifer permeability, the thickness of the aquifer material, and amount and rate of water discharged into the aquifer. Based on the interaction of these four parameters, a map is drawn for Jeddah delineating areas with severe, intermediate, and no groundwater rise. The behavior of the groundwater level in the undeveloped areas north and south of the city was also predicted.