Water Resources Management in Saudi Arabia and Water Reuse

ABSRTACT

The potential for water reclamation and reuse in Saudi Arabia are assessed by considering relationships among the technical, social, economic, and environmental parameters. Generally, the planning process for water reuse has focused on specific technological processes, however water reuse should be analyzed as part of a total hydrologic system to ensure the efficient transfer of wastewater reuse technology

To bring relationships into better focus, the application is developed with reference to Saudi Arabia, which provides an excellent opportunity for practicing water reuse. In this region, a limited water supply is used to satisfy municipal, industrial, agricultural, recreational and other beneficial uses. The economic and social trends are toward continued industrial development and urbanization. In this setting, water recycling through reuse is becoming a more and more important means of expanding water supplies to meet the growing demands for water for virtually all social, economic and environmental uses

Saudi Arabia is an arid country with very limited water resources and about 10 million people. The country covers some 2.2 million km², four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the largest country in the world without a river or a lake, and thus it represents the ultimate in its need to use the limited water supplies wisely.     

Storm Water Harvesting in Saudi Arabia: a Multipurpose Water Management Alternative

This work evaluates the potential for rainwater harvesting at the household level in the dry climate of Saudi Arabia. The amounts of rainwater that can be harvested in several cities in Saudi Arabia were estimated and it was found that a significant volume, exceeding 7.5 m³/100 m² per year, can be harvested. The per cubic meter cost of harvesting rainwater was compared to that of producing desalinated water. It was found that harvested rainwater is cheaper to capture than desalinated water produced from renewable energy-driven desalination plants, but that is not the case for fossil fuel-powered desalination. The study also considered the effects of rainwater harvesting on mitigating floods and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A cost-benefit analysis of installing rooftop rainwater harvesting systems in Saudi Arabia was performed. It revealed that it is economically feasible to harvest rain in cities including Hail, Jeddah, Taif, and Riyadh, while it is not recommended in the holy cities of Makkah, Medina, and Buraidah.     

Management of Groundwater Resources in Eastern Saudi Arabia

Effective management of groundwater in arid countries, such as Saudi Arabia, is an important factor in sustainable development. A regional numerical simulation model of a multi-aquifer system including the Dammam and Umm Er Radhuma (UER) aquifers was developed to assess the behaviour of the aquifer system under long-term water stresses. The model was utilized to predict the responses of the aquifer system under three alternative pumping schemes over a planning horizon of 31 years (1995-2025). Model results postulate that dewatering of the Dammam aquifer will occur at low productivity sites and along the outcrop with the current trend towards increasing abstraction. The UER will exhibit significant cones of depression at large irrigation projects. Aquifer dewatering and drawdowns will be minimal with the conservation alternative. This management scheme should be adopted for the future development and protection of groundwater in the province.     

Investment Needs and Privatization of Water Services in Saudi Arabia

The article outlines the dynamics of the privatization of water supply and sanitation services in Saudi Arabia. It also gives a summary of the projected requirements of desalination plants' capacity and the estimated capital investment needed for water supply and sanitation services. It gives a summary of public and private initiatives to privatize water services in Saudi Arabia.     

玛纳斯河灌区地表水与地下水联合调度模型

通过分析新疆农八师玛纳斯河灌区水资源供需状况,结合灌区的灌溉系统、农作物种类及灌溉制度,建立了以灌区地下水抽水总量最小为主要目标,以灌区农业经济总效益最大为次要目标的地表水与地下水联合调度模型,并采用目标规划法对模型进行了求解,得到了在不同保证率下灌区地表水和地下水联合调度方案及农作物种植面积。结果表明:灌区供需水高峰期不一致和灌溉系统的蓄水、输配水能力不足是产生灌区水资源供需矛盾的主要原因,应适当调整灌区农业种植结构,改造灌区水利工程。     

Fog Water Collection Evaluation in Asir Region–Saudi Arabia

Based on the fact that water can be collected from fog under favorable topographical and atmospheric conditions. The small water droplets present in the fog precipitate when they come in contact with solid objects. The frequent fogs that occur in the southwestern region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have the potential to provide an alternative source of freshwater in this otherwise dry region if harvested through the use of simple and low-cost collection systems known as fog collectors. A fog collection project has been carried out in Asir region of Saudi Arabia. Three Standard Fog Collectors (SFC) were designed and manufactured with locally available materials and imported mesh. These SFCs were installed in April 2006. Three different sites were chosen based on topography and altitude and data from April 2006 to April 2007 were obtained. Measurements with the SFCs were made for regions with 2,260 to 3,200 m elevation. The results indicate that at highest altitudes (at Alsooda), it is feasible to obtain an average water production of 6.215 L/m² day over the studied period, and in the lower altitudes, which are in Abha city, it is possible to collect more than 3.3 L/m² day. The highest water collection was 24 L/m² day and recorded in Dec. 20, 2006 at Al-Sahab park station, and furthermore for the same site, the best average water production of 11.5 L/m² day was obtained in winter 3 months period namely (December, November and January). Data about the weather conditions has been collected for the studied region. An analysis of fog collection effectiveness was carried out and compared with international standards. The obtained results indicate that fog can be a useful source of water supply in the southwest region of Saudi Arabia.     

TOPSIS模型的节水灌溉方案优选

针对节水灌溉工程投资方案多属性、多指标的特点,采用最大离差法结合TOPSIS模型,通过计算评价方案与理想方案间的距离,建立了方案优选模型。应用该优选模型对某节水灌溉工程建设方案进行优选,结果表明该模型计算简便,结果客观可靠,为节水灌溉工程方案优选提供了科学依据。     

大型灌区续建配套与节水改造

2006年中央安排国债投资14.5亿元,地方配套12.9亿元,对270多个大型灌区进行节水改造.项目完成后,预计可新增、恢复灌溉面积12.67万hm2,改善灌溉面积52.8万hm2,新增粮食生产能力13.5亿kg,增加年节水能力15亿m3.     

Water demand versus supply in Saudi Arabia: current and future challenges

Saudi Arabia is facing a chronic water-shortage problem. Demand far exceeds the sustainable yield of both conventional and non-conventional water resources. The resulting demand–supply gap is being bridged through groundwater depletion. In this paper, demand–supply gaps for the coming 20 years are projected under three scenarios: optimistic, moderate and pessimistic. Future sustainable water yields are calculated and allocated to projected water demand in the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors. The study shows that Saudi Arabia will not be able to bridge the demand–supply gap in the near future. Intensive water demand management measures are needed in all sectors to minimize future demand–supply gaps, especially focused on the largest water consumer: the agricultural sector.     

Developing Strategies for Agricultural Water Management of Large Irrigation and Drainage Networks with Fuzzy MCDM

Sustainable water resources management aims at increasing the efficient use of water and achieving food security. This work proposes a generalized novel spatial fuzzy strategic planning (SFSP) in combination with multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) and a conceptual agricultural water use model for determining sustainable agricultural water management strategies. The proposed framework is applied to an irrigation and drainage network in Iran, which constitutes a large-scale water resource system. A spatial strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis of internal and external factors related to agricultural water management is applied in this work. Possible water management strategies were ranked with the MCDM approach that combines the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Fuzzy technique for order-preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The AHP estimates the criteria weights and the TOPSIS model prioritizes the agricultural water management strategies. The results of SWOT analysis show that the final scores of the internal and external factors are equal to 2.9 and 2.73, respectively. Accordingly, the most attractive strategic type is a SO (aggressive) strategy, and a combination of structural and non-structural strategies (SO, ST, and WO strategies) are the top-ranked ones. Proposed strategies for water supply and demand management are the development and rehabilitation of the physical structure of water resources system of irrigation network, improvement of operation management and maintenance of water resources system, wastewater management, and inter-basin water transfer within the irrigation network. The results indicate that the total annual volume of agricultural water under normal conditions is about 1.8 billion cubic meters, of which about 1707 million cubic meters (95%) issue from surface water sources and 90 million cubic meters (5%) from groundwater sources. The proposed model and the calculated results provide viable and effective solutions for the implementation of sustainable management of water resources and consumption in large-scale water resources systems.

     

Mathematical Tools for Irrigation Water Management

Abstract

Irrigation water management has significant economic implications in developing countries like India. While the structural infrastructure has been created with a huge financial investment in these countries, it is vital that appropriate non-structural measures be adopted for efficient water management. Scientific policies of operation of irrigation reservoir systems need to be developed with the aid of mathematical tools and implemented in practice. In this paper, a brief overview of some mathematical tools for irrigation system operation, crop water allocations and performance evaluation is presented, with a discussion on the work carried out in India by the author's team. Recent tools and techniques of fuzzy optimization and fuzzy inference systems that incorporate imprecision in management goals and constraints and that address the interests of stakeholders are also discussed. Perceptions on issues relating to applicability of the tools to real-life problems, existing gaps between theory and practice and possible hurdles in narrowing such gaps in developing countries are presented.     

内陆干旱灌区优化配水模型及管理模式

从新疆生产实际需要和灌区现状出发,针对灌区灌溉方式、种植面积改变后,渠系水量如何分配及先进的灌溉节水技术推广难等问题,围绕灌溉渠系优化配水模型及灌区现代化管理模式两方面内容开展研究,构建了多种作物同时灌溉,基于遗传算法的渠系优化配水模型,探讨了适应市场经济、利于推广的新型灌区管理模式,为今后节水方向和政府决策提供依据。     

Energy and Water in Arid Developing Countries: Saudi Arabia,a Case-study

In Saudi Arabia, where water resources are limited, the availability of energy resources, including petroleum, natural gas and electricity, helped in solving the challenge of satisfying rapid and substantial increases in water demand for drinking and industrial and agricultural purposes. Thirty-five major dual-purpose multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants were constructed on the Red Sea and Gulf coast to produce drinking water. The process energy requirements for MSF and RO range between 19.5 and 38 kWh/m3, and 0.5 and 9 kWh/m3, respectively. The MSF plants produce about 20% of the total national electricity production. About 85 000 wells were drilled to satisfy the increasing irrigation water demands. The energy requirements to pump 1 m3 from wells range between 0.4 and 0.8 kWh. The adoption of advanced technologies is continuing to reduce power consumption and water demand to conserve energy and water, and to minimize negative impacts on the environment.     

Water-saving strategies for irrigation agriculture in Saudi Arabia

Agriculture policy changes in Saudi Arabia are investigated by water footprint (WF) assessment. WF is calculated with the model SPARE:WATER for 3758 irrigated sites. The WF of agriculture areas (WF_area, km³ yr^?1) has decreased (–17%) since the year 2000 to 13.84 km³ yr^?1 (2011), which is mainly caused by the reduction of cropland by –33%. Nevertheless, water consumption per field has increased about 16%, which can be attributed to the cultivation of fodder crops (+12%). A scenario analysis revealed that a shifting cropping pattern towards less fodder crops reduces WF_area by –15%, and implementing improved irrigation technology leads to a combined reduction of up to 32%     

计划用水动态管理模型及其应用

基于目前我国水资源管理效率不够高，效果不够好这一现实，建立了适用于多水源，多工程，多用户等复杂条件下的计划用水的动态管理模型，提出了利用滚动预测供水量，进行实时调度，逐月调整计划用水指标的方法，针对缺水地区，提出了按行业或企业节水水平高低和用水重要性大小的配水子模型，以及不同月份缺水对工业生产和主要粮食作物产量影响的定量评价子模模型，实例计算表明计划用水管理模型预期管理效果较好，具有推广应用价值。     

灌区灌溉用水管理决策支持系统总体设计

在分析灌溉用水管理主要内容和决策流程以及确定的系统开发原则基础上,提出了具有系统结构合理、软件设计先进、实用性强、扩充性能好、适应实时决策要求的灌溉用水管理决策支持系统总体设计方案以数据库和知识库作为信息基础,以模型库作为管理决策的重要支撑手段,针对以上三库相互之间在概念和结构上存在交叉,在运行中存在数据流交换的特点,建立总控系统。通过多组件之间的接口集成整个决策支持系统,实现信息查询、灌水预报、水量分配等功能。该系统界面友好、直观,操作灵活、方便。     

Groundwater Vulnerability and the Reuse of Water,with Reference to Saudi Arabia

It is noted that an integrated water supply system incorporating surface water, groundwater and recycled water is essential and that in the definition of groundwater resources consideration should be given to the inclusion of some brackish and saline waters. The abstraction of groundwater in Saudi Arabia, irrespective of quality, is a mining operation so that increasing emphasis will need to be placed on desalinization and the recycling of sewage and industrial waste waters. Aspects of the reuse of such waters are discussed with respect to aquifer protection and aquifer value as a storage medium.     

灌区渠系优化配水模型建立与求解

对于下级渠道流量不等的情况进行科学决策和优化调度,可实现"流量大、历时短"的灌溉目标。建立以输水渠道实际流量与设计流量相差最小和输水历时最短为双目标函数的优化配水模型,采用层次分析法把双目标函数转化为单目标函数,通过遗传算法对单目标函数进行求解,得到下级渠道的配水流量、配水时间等参数。与有关文献对比,在水量损失可控的前提下,各级渠道流量范围以及灌溉历时范围扩大。以浙江省峡口水库灌区某次灌溉为例进行计算,灌溉时间由18d缩短到14.5 d,上级渠道流量平稳,接近设计流量,下级渠道配水实现了优化搭配。结果表明:该模型在水量损失可控的情况下,管理部门可以根据当地实际情况进行偏好选择,实现"流量大、历时短"的灌溉目标。     

数字水利——中国水利现代化必由之路

一、数字水利的提出 水利行业是一个历史十分悠久的行业,也是信息十分密集的行业。一方面,水利部门要向国家和相关行业提供大量的水利信息,如汛情旱情信息、水量水质信息、水环境信息和水工程信息等,另一方面,水利本身也离不开相关行业的信息支持,如气象信息、地理地质信息、社会经济信息等。当今信