Abstract
Water is diminishing in many places of the globe due to human intervention and climate variability. This study was conducted to assess water sustainability in the Amu Darya basin, the largest river catchment of central Asia, using two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite solutions with a spatial resolution of 0.5°. Spatial variability of water sustainability was estimated by integrating reliability, resiliency and vulnerability. In addition, the Modified Mann–Kendall (MMK) test was utilized to detect the significant trends in water availability. Findings show a significant decline in the basin’s water supply, especially after 2010. Water availability was more variable in the east and a small area in the south. Trend analysis revealed higher declination in water availability in the range of −0.04 to −0.08 cm/year in the tundra and warm dry continental climate zones and the delta region of the basin ending in the Aral Sea in the cold desert climate zone. Water resources in the cold semi-arid (steppe) and most parts of the cold desert climate are more sustainable than the rest of the basin. Overall, the results indicate that water resources availability in a large-scale basin with climate diversity could be well assessed using the method used in this study.
Highlights
Freshwater is one of the fundamental elements of Earth and the core of sustainable development
The blue color indicates the months when water availability is higher than the mean for the study period and vice versa for the red
The main goal of this study was to find out the availability and sustainability of water in the Amu Darya watershed by using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and employing the water sustainability index method
Summary
Freshwater is one of the fundamental elements of Earth and the core of sustainable development. Factors limiting water resources availability includes deviations in land use, demography and climate, precipitation and temperature [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Water engineers and politicians are increasingly concerned about the influence of climate change on water supplies, in arid and semi-arid areas [9,11,12,13]. It has intensified freshwater competition between sectors globally [14]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call