Facing Water Scarcity in Jordan

Abstract

Jordan is extremely water-scarce with just 167 m³ per capita per year to meet domestic, industrial, agricultural, tourism, and environmental demands. The heavy exploitation of water resources has contributed to declines in the levels of aquifers and the Dead Sea. Rapid growth in demand, particularly for higher quality water for domestic, industrial, and tourism uses, is significantly increasing pressure on agricultural and environmental uses of water, both of which must continue to adapt to reduced volumes and lower quality water. The agricultural sector has begun to respond by improving irrigation efficiency and increasing the use of recycled water. Total demand for water still exceeds renewable supplies while inadequate treatment of sewage used for irrigation creates potential environmental and health risks and presents agricultural marketing challenges that undermine the competitiveness of exports. The adaptive capability of the natural environment may already be past sustainable limits with oasis wetlands having been most seriously affected. Development of new water resources is extremely expensive in Jordan with an average investment cost of US$4 to $5 per cubic meter. This paper examines four integrated water resources management (IWRM) approaches of relevance to Jordan: water reuse, demand management, energy-water linkages, and transboundary water management. While progress in Jordan has been made, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation continues to be concerned about the acute water scarcity the country faces as well as the need to continue working with concerned stakeholders to assure future water supplies.     

A Modeling System for the Evaluation of Water Resources Management Strategies in Thessaly,Greece

A modeling system was developed to evaluate the sustainability of water resources management strategies in the two major basins of Thessaly Region in Greece, namely the Pinios River and the Lake Karla basins. The intense and extensive agriculture of water demanding crops, such as cotton, and the absence of reasonable water resources management have lead to a remarkable water demand increase, which is usually fulfilled by the over-exploitation of groundwater resources. This unsustainable practice has deteriorated the already disturbed water balance and accelerated water resources degradation. The modeling system consists of a hydrological model, a reservoir operation model and methods for the estimation of water demands. The study area was sub-divided into sub-basins and water balance analyses were performed for each sub-basin and each control node of the system for a number of water resources management strategies. Four strategies of hydro-technical project development were coupled with two strategies of groundwater withdrawal and three water demand strategies. In total, more than 24 water management strategies were evaluated. The results showed that, under the existing water resources management, the water deficit of the Pinios River and Lake Karla basins is very large. However, the development of proposed hydro-technical projects in the Pinios River basin coupled with water demand management measures, like improvement of existing water distribution systems, change of irrigation methods, and changes of crop cultivation could alleviate the problem and lead to sustainable and ecological use of water resources in the study area.     

生态环境需水量在水资源规划中的配置方法

在剖析生态环境需水量概念和计算方法的基础上,把生态环境需水量分成需要在水资源规划中配置的水量和不需要配置的水量。在需要配置的生态环境需水量中,又分为直接配置水量和间接配置水量。在水资源规划中,既要计算直接配置水量,又要计算间接配置水量。文中介绍了需要配置的生态环境需水量的确定方法,并列举了在新疆哈密地区的应用实例。     

环渤海地区水资源科学开发利用及管理探讨

随着经济高速发展和人口的不断增长,环渤海地区的水资源供需矛盾日益突出。在分析区域水资源开发利用管理存在问题的基础上,提出应采用节水、调水、海水利用、产业结构调整、水资源需求管理等措施,加强对水资源的科学合理开发利用,切实保障环渤海地区的水资源安全,促进区域经济社会和生态环境的可持续发展。     

洞庭湖区供水安全问题

随着气候变化和人类水土资源开发活动影响的深入,洞庭湖区面临着严重的供水安全问题。现结合供水安全的含义,从水量、水质变化以及供水设施等方面,分析洞庭湖区水量的变化以及水质状况演变趋势,并从科学调水用水、水源保护、法规制度的制定等3方面提出了相应的对策与措施,为科学的解决本地区的供水安全问题提供依据,以期能够引起人们对洞庭湖区供水安全方面问题的重视。     

城市可持续发展的水资源约束分析

自然资源与环境的可持续性是城市可持续发展的基础。在城市化加速发展的过程中,资源提供了经济发展的动力,也天然地确定了城市经济发展的边界。随着城市化水平的不断提升,我国大部分城市中水资源的需求量急剧增大,供需矛盾日趋尖锐化。作为城市发展不可缺少资源之一的水资源已经成为制约城市可持续发展的重要因素之一。     

Sustainability of Groundwater Resources in the North-Eastern Region of Bangladesh

Water is essential for economic, social, and environmental development. Global water resources are vulnerable due to increasing demand related to population growth, pollution potential, and climate change. Competition for water between different sectors is increasing. To meet the increasing demand, the use of groundwater is increasing worldwide. In this paper, the water-table dynamics of the north-eastern region of Bangladesh were studied using the MEKESENS software. This study reveals that the depth to water-table (WT) of almost all the wells is declining slowly. In many cases, the depth will approximately double by the year 2040, and almost all will double by 2060, if the present trend continues. If the decline of the water-table is allowed to continue in the long run, the result could be a serious threat to the ecology and to the sustainability of food production, which is vital for the nation’s food security. Therefore, necessary measures should be taken to sustain water resources and thereby agricultural production. Demand-side management of water and the development of alternative surface water sources seem to be viable strategies for the area. These strategies could be employed to reduce pressure on groundwater and thus maintain the sustainability of the resource.     

Water Distribution Scenarios in the Mexican Valley

Mexican Valley is one of the Mexico’s most critical areas of water supply, the groundwater resources are overexploited at a rate of 100% or more, generating ground sinking up to 0.4 cm/year in some areas. Water shortage in this area is already at an alarmingly critical level. The situation is expected to worsen due to increasing domestic, industrial and agricultural water demands. The limited water resources, the competing users and the combination of several water sources with different qualities require the development of an adequate water distribution system. The objective of this work is to generate a water distribution model as a three-person linear game in which the users are the players, the supplied amounts from five sources are the strategies, and the total water supplies are the payoffs. Since the available water supplies are lower than the total demands from the users, a tradeoff has to be determined. The nonsymmetric Nash bargaining method is used, which requires the solution of a special optimization problem with nonlinear objective function and linear constraints. For all water distribution scenarios there is no water distribution strategy that satisfies the domestic demand with the current system. Therefore investments and further developments are needed in combination with more efficient water usage by the three sectors in the near future to secure the satisfaction of domestic users. A market driven water pricing policy also would give an incentive to the users for more efficient usage of water.     

澜沧江－湄公河流域水资源利用现状与需求分析

为了摸清澜沧江-湄公河流域各国对水资源开发利用和需求情况,首先概述了澜沧江-湄公河流域水资源分布情况和流域内各国开发利用现状,其次基于各国的实际经济发展情况,分析了各国的用水需求。分析表明:在水资源开发利用方面,各国主要在航运、水电、灌溉、渔业养殖等方面对水资源进行开发利用,但受水资源分配不均和各国开发技术水平差异的影响,整体开发水平不高。在水资源需求方面,各国对澜沧江-湄公河流域水资源依赖程度差异较大,依赖程度最大的是柬埔寨,其次是越南、泰国、老挝、缅甸,中国依赖程度最小。受人类活动和气候变化的影响,未来各国对澜沧江-湄公河流域水资源需求将会更加多元化和复杂化,在水资源安全保障方面还需继续加强合作和积极应对。     

Optimal Operation of Artificial Groundwater Recharge Systems Considering Water Quality Transformations

In water limited areas as water demand increases alternative sustainable water sources must be identified. One supply augmentation practice, that is already being applied in the arid southwest U.S., is artificial groundwater recharge usingwastewater effluent. The objective of a recharge facility is to supplement the available groundwater resources by storing water for the future. The resulting reclaimed water is used primarily for non-potable purposes but under increasing stressesshifting to potable use is likely to happen. Water quality thenbecomes a more pressing concern. Water quality improvements during infiltration and groundwater transport are significant and are collectively described as soil-aquifer treatment (SAT). To meet user needs, the recharge operation must be efficiently managed considering monetary, water quality and environmental concerns. In this paper, a SAT management model is developed that considers all of these concerns. Within the SAT management model, the shuffled complex evolution algorithm (SCE) is used as the optimization tool. SCEis a relatively new meta-heuristic search technique for continuousproblems that has been used extensively for hydrologic model calibration. In this application, SCE is integrated with the simulation models (MODFLOW, MT3D, and MODPATH) to represent movement and quality transformations. Two steady state case studies on a general hypothetical aquifer (modeled after a field site) were examined using the management model.     

承德市滦河流域需水预测及水资源可持续利用对策研究

承德市是滦河发源地,众多支流均位于承德市境内。随着社会经济的迅速发展,特别是1997年以来,滦河流域持续性干旱,水资源逐步减少的趋势也非常明显。因此,开展承德市滦河流域需水预测及水资源可持续利用对策研究对于滦河水资源可持续利用具有重要意义。论文收集了大量的经济统计和用水资料,对承德市滦河流域未来需水状况进行分析和预测,分析表明到2030年承德市滦河流域需水将比2007年增加1倍。需要有计划地分阶段建设更多蓄水工程,调整产业结构,强化节水,发展中水回用工程,提高水资源重复利用率,以有限的水资源来满足不断增长的用水需求。     

纳米比亚水资源及中北部地区供需分析

纳米比亚位于干旱半干旱地区。境内气候干燥少雨，水资源贫乏。而边界河流水资源较为丰富，北部有库内内河、奥卡万戈河，南部有奥兰治河。由边界河流调水是减缓供需矛盾的唯一途径。中北部地区已建有从库内内河引水的供水系统，供需分析表明，只要尽快实现卡卢埃凯泵站有坝引水，库内内河的水资源能满足中北部地区的供水需求。     

天津市用于滨海河口生态补水的非常规水资源估算

随着天津滨海河口入海径流量逐年降低,以及城市水资源供需矛盾日益加剧,入海径流量远不能满足目前滨海河口生态需水量,因此,非常有必要开发非常规水源对滨海河口进行生态补水。在天津非常规水源(包括海水、雨水和再生水)现状分析的基础上,通过水资源利用途径分析和水量估算,得出雨水和再生水资源的可利用量完全可以满足滨海河口适宜生态需水量,并提出了滨海河口生态补水的措施。     

Sustainable Water Supply and Demand Management in Semi-arid Regions: Optimizing Water Resources Allocation Based on RCPs Scenarios

Climate as one of the key factors in water resources management affects the amount of water in the hydrological cycle, which subsequently impacts the level of water availability. Considering the challenges that the South Alborz Region, Iran is currently facing in supplying water for various consumers; in this study, the climate change adaptation scenarios are investigated for sustainable water supply and demand. This study uses a procedure in which five different adaptation approaches, under RCPs scenarios, were established using the WEAP model to assess the impacts of various adaptation strategies on increasing the balance between water supply and demand over current and 2020s accounts. The findings suggest an imbalance between supply and demand in the current situation with the greatest imbalance in domestic use while the minimum in the industrial sector. The results of assessing adaptive scenarios show that various scenarios have different effects on balancing the water supply and demand by different consumers; on the other hand, the scenarios that directly affect domestic water demand have the greatest effect on minimizing the gap between supply and demand in the region; therefore, the options for decreasing the population demand along with diminishing the losses in the domestic water distribution network are the most effective alternatives for balancing supply and demand under all of the climate scenarios. The findings of this research indicate that adaptive management with the focus on restricting demand helps actively management of water resources in the regions with scarce water resources.

     

A Multi-objective Linear Programming Model with Interval Parameters for Water Resources Allocation in Dalian City

Water resources management has been of concern for many researchers since the contradiction between increased water demand and decreased water supply has become obvious. In the real world, water resources systems usually have complexities among social, economic, natural resources and environmental aspects, which leads to multi-objective problems with significant uncertainties in system parameters, objectives, and their interactions. In this paper, a multi-objective linear programming model with interval parameters has been developed wherein an interactive compromising algorithm has been introduced. Through interactive compromising conflicts among multi-objectives, a feasible solution vector can be obtained. The developed model is then applied to allocation of multi-source water resources with different water qualities to multiple users with different water quality requirements for the Dalian city for 2010, 2015 and 2020 planning years. The model pursues the maximum synthesis benefits of economy, society and the environment. The results indicate that the proportion of reused water to the total water amount is gradually increasing, and the proportion of agricultural water consumption to the total water consumption is gradually decreasing. The allocation of multi-source water resources to multiple users is improved due to incorporation of uncertain factors into the model that provide useful decision support to water management authorities.     

北京市水资源状态与供需压力研究

针对北京市水资源短缺与用水需求不断增长的矛盾,将北京市水资源状态分成四个紧缺等级——无紧缺、轻度紧缺、中度紧缺和重度紧缺,形成了水资源状态指数,综合反映了北京市水资源动态变化;水资源供需压力分成四个压力等级——无压力、轻度压力、中度压力和重度压力,形成了供需压力指数,综合反映了北京市水资源供需状态。利用这两个指数对近年来北京市水资源状态和供需压力情况进行了综合评价。     

基于GDP耗水量的节水分析

通过GDP增长与用水量变化、用水指标等方法对比，评析了供水总量零增长条件下，新疆农业仍具有节水潜力，前提是国民经济年均增长与GDP耗水年均递减率必须同步推进，水资源供需与节水问题严峻。GDP用水是一个系统工程，采用柯布——道格拉斯模型，对GDP用水量影响要素与今后节水方向问题进行了研究。     

基于水资源配置的空间均衡度评价方法

为量化水资源配置对空间均衡的提升作用,系统评价水资源配置方案空间均衡度,研究基于水资源配置系统“水源-供水设施-受水区-用水户”的整体结构,从水源均衡、设施均衡、单元均衡和用户均衡4个方面分别选择了均衡度评价指标,构建水资源配置空间均衡度综合评价指标体系,并提出基于熵权-TOPSIS法的水资源配置空间均衡度评价方法。以昌邑市水资源配置系统为例,设置12种水资源配置方案来探究不同调控措施对水资源配置空间均衡度的影响。结果表明：该方法不仅可以量化不同调控措施对水源均衡、设施均衡、单元均衡和用户均衡的影响效果,还能够评估配置系统整体的水资源配置空间均衡度,可为水资源配置与空间均衡相关研究提供借鉴。     

云水资源利用对北三河流域农田灌溉需水影响分析

为探究不同降水频率、不同增雨情景下的农田灌溉用水差异,采用Penman-Monteith公式构建农田灌溉需水预测模型,研究北三河流域11个计算分区在95%、75%、50%等3种降水频率,及未增雨、增雨5%、增雨10%、增雨15%等4种情景下的灌溉需水变化。研究结果表明:北三河流域云水资源丰富且降水效率不高,故存在巨大的开发潜力;4—9月作物需水量较大;作物种植结构与种植面积影响农田灌溉需水量;北三河流域农田灌溉需水量夏季最多,春秋次之,冬季最少。云水资源与农田灌溉结合应用,同时优化作物种植结构,效益可观;枯水年、特枯水年夏季适宜对北三河全流域增雨,春秋两季适宜对河北潮白河山区、河北蓟运河山区、唐山平原区、天津平原区等局部地区增雨。云水资源的利用为灌溉用水提供了新的来源渠道,同时也为水资源的优化配置提供了新思路。     

Towards the Establishment of Water Management in Abu Dhabi Emirate

The Abu Dhabi Emirate is the largest of the seven emirates that compose the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Parallel to the growth of the country, the Abu Dhabi Emirate has witnessed remarkable development in many aspects of life over the past 35 years. This rapid development into a modern urban environment and the accompanying surge in population, caused by a major influx of foreign labor, have been imposing tremendous pressure on natural resources including water. The challenges of maintaining a sustainable freshwater supply in the Abu Dhabi Emirate are many. Conventional water resources are limited. Surface water is almost absent due to the scarcity of rainfall coupled with arid conditions. Groundwater is mostly brackish and nonrenewable. Over-pumping practices have resulted in a severe decline in groundwater levels and quality. The growing salinity in the ground water has impacted the increased salinity of agricultural land. In addition, water availability and demand are both subject to seasonal fluctuations, particularly during the hot and humid summer months. In the Abu Dhabi Emirate there is a high demand for freshwater used for irrigation of farmland, forests and landscaping; industrial and commercial uses; amenities and domestic use. A large portion of this demand is provided by desalinated water, which is expensive to produce. The need for rational water management is critical. Forecasting water demand is currently being used as the basis for the production expansion planning in order to meet the water demand for the emirate. With steady projected increases, the capacity to provide a continuous supply of freshwater is vital. Interruptions in the supply can be caused by emergencies and the minimum 1-year lead time needed for new desalination plant construction. Having an adequate storage system addresses some of the concerns related to establishing a freshwater supply. The Abu Dhabi Emirate needs long-term storage capacity equivalent to at least 1 year’s fresh water demand. One method of increasing this capacity is artificial recharge using excess produced desalinated water and treated wastewater. While there are currently pilot projects using this technique, more widespread use could be very beneficial. This paper describes the current water resources, water demands and techniques of storing water for future recovery in the emirate through artificial recharge techniques.