Million Cubic Meters Research Articles

Adaptation of the agricultural sector to the effects of climate change in arid regions: competitive advantage date palm cropping patterns under water scarcity conditions

This research paper highlights the adverse effects of climate change on the agricultural sector in Saudi Arabia and the actions taken to adapt to these adverse effects. Special focus was given to the potential to optimise the reallocation of scarce water resources among the competitive advantage date palm cropping regions in Saudi Arabia using a mathematical sector modelling approach. The results showed great potential for Saudi Arabia to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change by optimising the date palm cropping pattern in accordance with its scarce water resources and limited cultivated lands. The optimised scenario would result in a high net annual return, equivalent to about 881.76 million US$ year−1, and an increase on the water use return from about 0.97 US$ cm−1 in the base year to approximately 1.31 US$ cm−1. The optimised scenario would also provide the opportunity to reduce the allocated date palm cropping area by approximately 4% (from approximately 118,250 hectares to approximately 113,446 hectares) and to reduce the water demand by approximately 1% (from 681.06 million cubic metres (MCM) per year to approximately 674.28 MCM per year).

A new frontier in Texas: managing and regulating brackish groundwater

The challenge of providing access to clean water is visible in Texas, where chronic drought coincides with increasing water demand. The 2012 Texas State Water Plan reports a 2,700 million cubic metres (MCM) gap between freshwater supply and demand in 2010, a number predicted to grow to 3,100 MCM by 2060. Due to the difficulty of reducing water demand, policy makers and water providers are evaluating new sources, including brackish groundwater for desalination or direct use. It is estimated that Texas aquifers contain more than 3,300,000 MCM of brackish groundwater, which, if converted to fresh water, could meet current consumption needs for 150 years, albeit at a greater cost. Using Texas as a case study, this article addresses policies to better manage the supply of brackish groundwater. We review the geological, technical, and legal contexts of groundwater in Texas and situate brackish groundwater within those constructs. We consider efforts by other states to regulate brackish groundwater and identify management goals, including facilitating access to and incentivizing use of brackish groundwater and protecting freshwater aquifers from potential saline intrusion related to brackish groundwater production. Various brackish groundwater policies are examined, and policy recommendations regarding use of the resource are offered.

Recognition of karst hydrology and water resources interaction in Kazerun Karstic Zones, South of Iran

The determination of catchment area is the starting point in all hydrological analyses and essential as the basis for all hydrological calculations. The ambiguity of the catchment area of Sasan Springs as the largest karst springs of Kazerun karstic zone is the main motivation of this research. Using water budgeting, the catchment area for Sasan Spring was calculated including karstic aquifers. Water budget of Dashtak, Salbiz, and Shahneshin anticlines was investigated to identify water catchment of the Sasan Spring. Accordingly, six karstic zones are presented, namely Northern Dashtak, Southern Dashtak, Northern Shahneshin, Northern Asmari Shahneshin, Southern Shahneshin, and Salbiz, and are investigated the hydraulic relationship between these zones. The results of water budget calculations indicate that the negative water balance of −70 MCM (Million Cubic Meter) in the Northern Dashtak, the main catchment Sasan Spring, could be supplied from three other interconnected zones of Northern Shahneshin, Northern Asmari Shahneshin, and Salbiz via Qatar–Kazerun fault. Geological, hydrochemical, and geophysical evidences confirm relationships between these zones.

Strategies for climate change impacts on irrigated crops in National Capital Region of India

Irrigation has helped in increasing food production and achieving food security in India. However, climate change is expected to affect the crop production in irrigated area particularly in groundwater irrigated areas. This study was undertaken for suggesting strategies to climate change impact on irrigated crops based on projected change in crop water requirement and groundwater availability for irrigation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Prevailing groundwater recharge in the study area during monsoon was 4.01 MCM (Million cubic meter). The same for various scenarios varied from -15.47 MCM to 5.08 MCM. It was revealed that groundwater recharge would increase if it is estimated based on the climate prediction done using local weather data. The impact of climate change on groundwater availability is evident in scenarios based on INCCA and IPCC predictions where it varied from -2.66 MCM to 1.02 MCM. Contrary to common perceptions, crop water requirement of prevailing cropping system would not increase in future if all the important climatic parameters are considered for its prediction. This may be due to the fact that effect of increase in temperature on crop water requirement may be compensated by decrease in other climatic parameters such wind speed and duration of daily sunshine hours. Results indicated that climate change may not have much impact on sustainability of prevailing cropping system as per the crop water requirement is concerned. Based on water requirement and groundwater availability under various climate change scenarios, appropriate strategies to cope up the climate change impact on irrigated crops have been suggested.

Characterization of groundwater potential and artificial recharge sites in Bokaro District, Jharkhand (India), using remote sensing and GIS-based techniques

Anarchic use of groundwater for domestic and industrial purposes poses a major threat to the rapidly depleting groundwater resources of India. In the present study, an integrated remote sensing and GIS-based methodology is used for the mapping of groundwater potential zones and identification of suitable sites for artificial recharge in the Bokaro District of Jharkhand, India. The study area is classified into three different zones, namely ‘poor’, ‘moderate’ and ‘good’ in terms of its groundwater potential. Only small isolated patches in the eastern and central parts of the district have been identified to have good groundwater potential with a sustainable yield of 87.18 MCM (million cubic metres). The percent area coverage of regions with good groundwater potential is only ~5 %. The sustainable yield for areas characterized to have moderate groundwater potential is 962.11 MCM, while those with poor potential are estimated to be 53.31 MCM. Overall, the results show that 95 % of the study area have moderate to poor groundwater potentiality. Sensitivity analysis, using effective weight and variation index, reveals slope, drainage density and soil as the parameters with the greatest influence on the computation of groundwater potential index. The present study also focuses on the identification of suitable artificial recharge sites, using multi-criteria analysis technique, for augmenting the depleting groundwater reserves of the area. The results reveal that 84.95 % of the study area is either highly or moderately suited for artificial recharge, which is primarily attributed to the predominance of favourable geology and geomorphologic features in the study area.

Resource assessment and strategic planning for improvement of water supply to Shimla city in India using geo-spatial techniques

This study focuses on suggesting short term corrective measures for improving water supply to Shimla city which is the state capital of Himachal Pradesh in India. The city is getting water supply from seven sources located in three watersheds, namely, Nauti, Ashwani and Giri watershed. Nauti and Ashwani watersheds have fully been tapped but Giri watershed is partly tapped. Presently, only 20 MLD (million litres per day) of water is being drawn from Giri River which is about 37% of the present water demand.Resource assessment in Giri watershed was accomplished using Remote Sensing Techniques and GIS based Arc-SWAT Hydrological Model. Study has established that average annual precipitation in the Giri watershed for 26 years (1984–2010) is about 1011.44mm, out of which about 32% flows as runoff, 12% as groundwater and about 56% as evapotranspiration. The monthly inflow varies from 0.37 to 18.93m3/s and 75% annual dependable discharge is 2.80m3/s at the existing Headworks.Being ungauged watershed there are no statistical data for validation of results. However considering Water Balance Equation as the validation criteria, coefficient of correlation “R” between observed Rainfall and simulated Runoff was found to be 0.94 which validates the output. Results were further validated through actual measurement of inflow in lean period, which surprisingly has shown very good correlation (R=0.95) between simulated and observed stream flow. Model output further reveals that the excess inflow can be utilized to fulfill additional water demand of 42.61MLD (2031) for Shimla city by creating storage of about 1.12MCM (million cubic metres).

The Arab Spring and Water Security

Most of the Arab countries are located in the arid to semi-arid parts of the world which are characterised by limited water resources and fragile ecosystems. The amount of available water resources is about 265 million cubic metres (MCM) compared to a total population of 370 million people, putting the per capita share of water at less than 1000 cubic metres (ESCWA 2013). Thirteen of the 20 states that make up the Arab world rank among the most-scarce nations globally, and suffer severe water stress (World Bank 2009a). High rates of population growth, urbanization, industrialization and other economic activities, as well as the effects of climate change and occurrence of droughts, add to the stress and raise the spectre of continuous water shortages in the near future. The land and water resources of the Fertile Crescent and the Nile Valley, that once fed the people of Middle East, are no longer sufficient due to the unprecedented population increase. Shortages of water resources that are necessary for food production have acted as a major stress factor and have exacerbated other environmental and social stresses. The reports of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (2012) and the World Bank (2009b) indicate that more than 50% of the food consumed in the region is imported. This paper discusses the role of water shortage and climate change in igniting the Arab Spring and its effect on water and food security. It also discusses the consequences of the Arab Spring on water security.

Assessment of the regional water balance of the limestone subaquifers of Cyprus

The northern part of Cyprus is usually characterized by its small watersheds and the lack of ephemeral surface water resources. Therefore, all the water dependent activities depend on groundwater resources. Kyrenia Range subaquifers are the only natural domestic water supplying sources, fulfilling the required worldwide drinking water quality standards. In the present study, various hydrogeological factors that could influence the aquifer recharge and abstraction are used together with annual groundwater level changes, to estimate the capacity of each subaquifer distributed at the Kyrenia Range randomly. During the analyses, 11 subaquifers are worked out; and their spatial distribution, the depth, and the daily abstraction from the available wells are surveyed. The results show that annual groundwater recharge into the subaquifers is 1126 mm. It is also observed that the subaquifers recharging from the southern foothills are more vulnerable to climate effects than the ones at the northern foothills. The available water storage at the present situation, at each subaquifer, is calculated individually and finally the total storage capacity of Kyrenia Range subaquifers, is assessed as 214 million cubic meters (MCM); whereas the data analyses show that annual abstractions from the 11 subaquifers is 13.34 MCM, annually.

Augmentation of surface water sources from spatially distributed rainfall in Saudi Arabia

This study investigated the rainfall patterns, spatial variability, surface runoff generation and dam requirements in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. The region was divided into four areas Asir, Jazan, Al-Baha and the Red Sea Coast. Surface runoff was estimated for eight scenarios considering the runoff coefficients of 0.05–0.70, resulting in 203–2,835 million cubic meters (MCM) of runoff per year in this region. The runoff in the Asir, Jazan, Al-Baha and the Red Sea Coast were estimated to be in the ranges of 88–1,230, 53–738, 32–443 and 30–425 MCM per year, respectively. The capacities of the existing dams in Asir, Jazan and Al-Baha are approximately 373, 194 and 31 MCM, respectively, while the coast does not have any dam. A significant fraction of runoff is likely to be lost in each scenario of assessment. Water resources may be augmented through construction of new dams and/or wells in appropriate locations. However, better understanding is advisable on locations, water availability, surface evaporation in wadies and reservoirs, accumulation of solids in dam/reservoirs, hydraulic conductivity, economic burdens and national policy.

Assessments of Irrigation Water Requirement from Deduru Oya Left Bank Canal to Supplement Deduru Oya Left Bank Irrigation Demand

Rainfall in DeduruOya basin has a significant temporal variation and thus the Deduru Oya carry flash floods during rainy season and very low flows during dry season. The Deduru Oya reservoir under construction at the upstream of the existing Ridi Bedi Ela anicut will be useful to regulate discharge of the DeduruOya for better utilizing the basin water resources especially for irrigation. The multi-purpose DeduruOya reservoir project with a reservoir of a capacity of 75 Million Cubic Meters (MCM), augments water resources in 136 existing tank based irrigation systems in the Deduru Oya Left Bank through a Left Bank (LB) canal and also diverts water to the Iginimitiya tank in the Mee Oya basin through a Right Bank (RB) trans basin canal. This study develops a model for water management in LB canal development area and for the assessment of diversion requirement from the Deduru Oya reservoir through the LB Canal to supplement LB irrigation demand. Hydrological Engineering Center-Hydrological Modeling System (HEC-HMS) is used for runoff estimations and CROPWAT model is used to estimate crop water requirements. Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) model is used for water balance simulations in Deduru Oya LB canal development area and to calculate water requirements from LB canal for the period of recent 10years. The study reveals that the annual water requirement from the LB canal for 100% cropping intensity in the proposed 3000 ha irrigable area in LB canal development area varies from 26 MCM to 41 MCM. ENGINEER, Vol. 47, No. 04, pp. 17-32, 2014

Water Banks: Using Managed Aquifer Recharge to Meet Water Policy Objectives

Innovation born of necessity to secure water for the U.S. state of Arizona has yielded a model of water banking that serves as an international prototype for effective use of aquifers for drought and emergency supplies. If understood and adapted to local hydrogeological and water supply and demand conditions, this could provide a highly effective solution for water security elsewhere. Arizona is a semi-arid state in the southwestern United States that has growing water demands, significant groundwater overdraft, and surface water supplies with diminishing reliability. In response, Arizona has developed an institutional and regulatory framework that has allowed large-scale implementation of managed aquifer recharge in the state’s deep alluvial groundwater basins. The most ambitious recharge activities involve the storage of Colorado River water that is delivered through the Central Arizona Project (CAP). The CAP system delivers more than 1850 million cubic meters (MCM) per year to Arizona’s two largest metropolitan areas, Phoenix and Tucson, along with agricultural users and sovereign Native American Nations, but the CAP supply has junior priority and is subject to reduction during declared shortages on the Colorado River. In the mid-1980s the State of Arizona established a framework for water storage and recovery; and in 1996 the Arizona Water Banking Authority was created to mitigate the impacts of Colorado River shortages; to create water management benefits; and to allow interstate storage. The Banking Authority has stored more than 4718 MCM of CAP water; including more than 740 MCM for the neighboring state of Nevada. The Nevada storage was made possible through a series of interrelated agreements involving regional water agencies and the federal government. The stored water will be recovered within Arizona; allowing Nevada to divert an equal amount of Colorado River water from Lake Mead; which is upstream of CAP’s point of diversion. This paper describes water banking in Arizona from a policy perspective and identifies reasons for its implementation. It goes on to explore conditions under which water banking could successfully be applied to other parts of the world, specifically including Australia.

Estimation of Water Footprint Components of Iran’s Wheat Production: Comparison of Global and National Scale Estimates

The water footprint (WF) of national wheat production has been previously estimated for the whole world in global-scale studies. These studies used assumptions which must be assessed and evaluated by estimates from national or regional studies. Here, previous estimates of different components (green, blue, gray and white) of WF of national wheat production in Iran were compared to the national-scale estimates. A new component (white WF) was proposed to account for the irrigation losses. Different components of the wheat WF were estimated for 236 plains over fifteen major wheat producing provinces. Then, the average values of each province were estimated. Finally, the weighted average values of each WF component were estimated by using the shares of irrigated and rainfed productions as weighting factors. The average total WF for irrigated areas and between all selected provinces is about 3,188 m3/ton with comparable shares of blue and green water, while the average total WF for rainfed areas is about 3,071 m3/ton with the share of the green WF nine times that of the gray WF. The results show that the total national WF of wheat production for the period 2006–2012 is about 42,143 million cubic meters (MCM) per year (41 % green, 18 % blue, 16 % gray and 25 % white) with the share of the green WF about 2.3 times the blue WF. Comparison of the obtained estimates with the results of the previous studies at a global scale revealed that estimating the WFs of crops at a global scale, ignores the variations of climatic conditions, water resources availability and crop yields at the national and regional levels and some of the assumptions made in global-scale studies must be reassessed.

Evolution of dike opening during the March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i

AbstractThe 5–9 March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption along the east rift zone of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i, followed months of pronounced inflation at Kīlauea summit. We examine dike opening during and after the eruption using a comprehensive interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data set in combination with continuous GPS data. We solve for distributed dike displacements using a whole Kīlauea model with dilating rift zones and possibly a deep décollement. Modeled surface dike opening increased from nearly 1.5 m to over 2.8 m from the first day to the end of the eruption, in agreement with field observations of surface fracturing. Surface dike opening ceased following the eruption, but subsurface opening in the dike continued into May 2011. Dike volumes increased from 15, to 16, to 21 million cubic meters (MCM) after the first day, eruption end, and 2 months following, respectively. Dike shape is distinctive, with a main limb plunging from the surface to 2–3 km depth in the up‐rift direction toward Kīlauea's summit, and a lesser projection extending in the down‐rift direction toward Pu`u `Ō`ō at 2 km depth. Volume losses beneath Kīlauea summit (1.7 MCM) and Pu`u `Ō`ō (5.6 MCM) crater, relative to dike plus erupted volume (18.3 MCM), yield a dike to source volume ratio of 2.5 that is in the range expected for compressible magma without requiring additional sources. Inflation of Kīlauea's summit in the months before the March 2011 eruption suggests that the Kamoamoa eruption resulted from overpressure of the volcano's magmatic system.

Reuse of treated wastewater in Saudi Arabia: an assessment framework

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is experiencing an acute shortage of freshwater and is now looking for new water sources. In 2009, domestic water demand was 2,330 million cubic meters (MCM); about 730 MCM domestic wastewater was treated and 325 MCM of the treated wastewater (TWW) was reused. The remaining wastewater is typically discharged into the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, sand dunes and wadis. These discharges can affect the environment and groundwater quality. This study investigated TWW reuse potential and developed a fuzzy multistage hierarchy framework for evaluating TWW reuse in Saudi Arabia. This research demonstrates that comprehensive reuse of TWW can replace approximately 1,631 MCM/yr of groundwater extraction. Reuse of TWW may produce approximately 654,500 tons of wheat (175 million US$), which is 20.5% of the national wheat demands in 2011, while the environmental pollution can be minimized. In this framework, four factors: cost, risk, benefits and social acceptance of TWW reuse were considered as the main criteria. These criteria can be evaluated using basic criteria and priority matrices following the hierarchy structure. The framework incorporates uncertainty in evaluating TWW reuse. A hypothetical case study is presented to apply the framework.

Evaluating the impact of demand-side management on water resources under changing climatic conditions and increasing population

This study investigated the effect of increasing population and changing climatic conditions on the water resources of a semi-arid region, the Las Vegas Valley (LVV) in southern Nevada. A system dynamics model was developed for the LVV from 1989 to 2035. The impact of climate change on water demand and the water supply from the Colorado River was modeled, using projections from 16 global climate models for 3 emission scenarios. Variability in water demand and supply under different scenarios of population growth and demand management, including water conservation and water pricing, was evaluated. With the population growth that was projected, if no further demand management policies were implemented, the LVV would not be able to meet the water demand in the near future. However, by combining water conservation and pricing policies, the available supply could last well into the future. The reduction in water demand in 2035 was predicted to be 327 million cubic meters (MCM) for ‘status quo’ population growth, or 30.6%; 408 MCM for 50% of the projected growth, or 38%; and 511 MCM for no population growth, or 47.8%. Water supply reliability decreased significantly with changing climatic conditions. Therefore, major challenges to water sustainability in the LVV would be due to rapid population growth as well as to climate variability. However, with the combination of reduced population growth rate and water conservation policies, the Colorado River supply could meet the future demand of the LVV most of the time.

Analysis of Agricultural Production in Syria from a Virtual Water Flow Perspective

Abstract in Undetermined In this paper, the agricultural status in Syria regarding virtual water flow is presented. Crop patterns, area, yield, and water consumption in agriculture are discussed. The historical change in crop pattern and the cultivated land is analyzed. The embedded water in different crops and the virtual water flow due to agriculture products were estimated. It was found that the annual imported and exported virtual water from agricultural products are about 14580 and 1790 Million Cubic Meters (MCM), respectively. The economic analysis shows that citrus, tomatoes, and potatoes have high values of gross profit to water use ratio GP/WU, while sugar beet and cotton have low values.

Water table fluctuation analyses and associated empirical approach to predict spatial distribution of water table at Yeşilköy/AgiosAndronikos aquifer

The groundwater of the deep Yesilkoy aquifer is the only water resource for agricultural and domestic consumption at the Karpaz Peninsula of Cyprus, which stretches approximately 100 km from the northeast of capital Nicosia to the northern tip of Cyprus. During the last decade, over-pumping and following dry periods have depleted the groundwater resources and the water surface elevation of the aquifer has dropped. The aim of this study is to understand the behavior of the Yesilkoy aquifer in the last decade for the proper management of groundwater resources. This has been achieved based on well survey and field survey studies, monitoring programs followed by pumping tests, and safe yield analysis. Most of the research effort has been focused on field and well survey studies to quantify agricultural water consumption and abstraction rates from the aquifer. A long-term groundwater level monitoring program, short-term continuous groundwater monitoring and pumping tests provided information for the regression analyses while deriving a sixth order polynomial relationship between the period parameter and the head parameter. The equation was helpful to predict the short-term behavior of the water level when the present hydrogeological conditions prevail. The pumping test results satisfied the hydraulic properties of calcarenite formation yielding T = 1,782 m2/day and S = 0.0012. The results of safe yield analysis show that the annual deficit of the aquifer is 0.496 million cubic meters (MCM), which is equivalent to a 0.6 m drop in groundwater levels per year. Finally, the resultant annual safe yield of the aquifer is estimated as 0.84 MCM.

Water-supply augmentation options in water-scarce countries

Growing demand for water resources due to increased population and improved living standards, have prompted public agencies and others in the Fertile Crescent (FC), a semi-arid region, to seek better ways to manage water. This paper discusses water supply-augmentation options (e.g., desalination, water importing, wastewater treatment, recycling, water conservation, reducing evapotranspiration and storage) to alleviate water scarcity generally, and in the FC countries in particular. Introduction of conventional and non-conventional measures to augment water supplies as well as narrowing of the gap between water supply and demand in water-scarce countries and regions was done. A conceptual supply augmentation method operationalized with secondary data suggests water supply augmentation is feasible in this region. Marginal cost (MC) principle was used to demonstrate optimal water supply by step-wise adoption of the supply-augmentation methods with the lowest MC. Three supply-augmentation options were most promising in the FC: (1) desalination of brackish water, (2) reducing evapotranspiration, and (3) water conservation. These three options can potentially add as much as 630 million cubic meter (MCM) over the next two decades, helping to solve the water-scarcity problem while considering sustainability and water quality for present and future uses. Key words: Water scarcity, Fertile Crescent (FC), supply-augmentation options, marginal cost (MC).

Desalinate or divert? Coastal non-market values as a decision tool for an integrated water management policy: The case of the Jordan River basin

This paper deals with a cost effective analysis of two options to increase the water supply in Israel. The first policy is to divert 300 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of water from the Sea of Galilee (SOG) to the central part of Israel. This policy is the existing one. The second policy is to replace this diversion with desalinated water plants that will be built on the Mediterranean Coast (MC). These two options carry both market and non-market consequences. The first policy has a negative effect on the SOG itself due to the lower lake level. It also carries some negative consequences on the Jordan River (JR) and the Dead Sea (DS) which are located downstream. The second policy involves water production at a higher cost and has negative external effects of scarce coastal land usage and high energy consumption. A Payment Card (PC) Contingent Valuation (CV) survey was performed at the four sites (the SOG, the DS, the JR and the MS). We show that when one takes these non-use values into account, the preferred solution will shift from the usage of the SOG to the desalination policy.

Runoff Estimation for Suggested Water Harvesting Sites in the Northern Jordanian Badia

Jordan is characterized by severe weather conditions, therefore great temporal and spatial variations in rainfall; runoff and evaporation amounts are expected. Water harvesting has been practiced in Jordan throughout history for both irrigation and household purposes. A major research project was carried out in the Jordanian Badia on site selection criteria for rain water harvesting systems based on the integration between indigenous knowledge and the use of Geo-informatics. This work was followed by conducting a geophysical and soil investigation for five potential sites. In this study, GIS was used to investigate the potential of having enough runoff in the five selected sites to establish water harvesting dams based on rainfall, evaporation data and catchments’ areas for the selected sites. It was found that the estimated runoff that could be harvested on annual basis at these sites varies between 0.2 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) in Alaasra site to 0.82 MCM in Al-Manareh (Al-Ghuliasi) site. This indicates that these sites have the potential for small scale water harvesting that could be utilized by local livestock owners in the area to water their livestock.