El-Kawther area covers about of 7140 feddan (30 kmz) and located II km from Sohag City. The area included the industrial zone and the residential area. The industrial development in El-Kawther has been started since the 1999's. At preset, there are more than I20 operating small and medium enterprises distributed into three sub-zones.
The interpretation of nineteen vertical electrical soundings carried out in the area and the geological investigations reveal the existence of two aquifers in the area; the unconfined aquifer that changes laterally to semi-confined and the fractured Eocene limestone, where meteoric water is draining out at Wadi Bir E-Ain. The unconfined aquifer at the eastern part of study area is completely missing where the Pliocene clay is cropping out. The aquifer is mainly composed of fine to coarse sands belongs to the Quaternary (Qena sands). The results reveal the existence of high potential unconfined aquifer at the northwestern part of the area and its potential decreases eastward and southward. Based on the interpretation of the vertical electrical soundings, the boundary between the dry sediments and the water bearing formation are delineated. The analysis of the pumping test data indicates the coefficient of the aquifer permeability and storage coefficient are about 6 m/d and 0.00015 respectively.