Assessment of groundwater resources in Kuwait using a finite difference model

Usable groundwater resources have strategic significance, given the arid climate of Kuwait. Assessment of groundwater resources through modelling is considered of paramount importance for sustained long‐term development of this resource. A conceptual model of the regional hydrogeology of the area has been developed based on the available data. Three aquifers were recognized within the Dammam Formation‐Kuwait Group sequence. VTDN software was used for numerical simulation of the groundwater flow in this aquifer system under steady‐state conditions. Calibration runs made to date suggest that the model is sensitive to the vertical coefficient of permeability of the aquitards and the horizontal transmissi‐vities of the aquifers. The water balance achieved shows that the contribution from the natural recharge from precipitation is insignificant.     

Groundwater Utilization and Management in the State of Kuwait

Abstract

The main brackish groundwater resources in the State of Kuwait are the groundwater located in the Kuwait Group and the Dammam limestone aquifers. Most of the groundwater used in the State of Kuwait is for irrigation, some part of it is used for domestic purposes and for small scale industries. Since rainfall is seasonal and is less than the annual evaporation, the recharge from rainfall is negligible. Water levels in both the aquifers are highly affected by the pumping rate from each well. The groundwater is extracted heavily resulting in decline of water levels and the deterioration of groundwater quality though there is underflow from Saudi Arabia. Improvement of the groundwater management is essential for maintaining long-term productivity of the aquifers in the State of Kuwait.     

An Indicator Based Assessment for Water Resources Management in Gediz River Basin,Turkey

In this study, a water resources management model that facilitates indicator-based decisions with respect to environmental, social and economic dimensions is developed for the Gediz River Basin in Turkey. The basic input of the proposed model is the quantity of surface water that is greatly allocated to irrigation purposes; therefore, supply and demand interrelations in agricultural water use constitute the main focus of the study. The model has been applied under three different hydro-meteorological scenarios that reflect baseline as well as better and worse conditions of water supply and demand, not only to reach an assessment of water budget, but also to evaluate the impacts of proposed management alternatives under different conditions. The Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) software is used as a simulation and evaluation tool to assess the performance of possible management alternatives, which is measured by nine proposed indicators. The results of the study have indicated that the Gediz River Basin is quite sensitive to drought conditions, and the agricultural sector is significantly affected by irrigation deficits that increase sharply in drought periods. Even if the optimistic scenario is assumed to occur, it is not possible to observe a significant improvement in the water budget; however, the negative impacts of climate change can possibly exacerbate the water crisis. The indicators also verified that, efficient water management is crucial to ensure the sustainable use of water resources with respect to environmental, social and economic dimensions.     

柴达木盆地地下水功能评价

在详细调查柴达木盆地水文地质条件的基础上,建立了地下水功能评价指标体系,采用层次分析法对地下水功能进行综合评价。结果表明:盆地内地下水可持续利用性强的区域为那棱格勒河、格尔木河及塔塔棱河三大流域的补给径流区,地下水系统处于良好可利用状况,地下水的生态功能或地质环境功能没有问题;其余各流域的山前补给径流区地下水可持续利用性为一般—较强,地下水的生态功能或地质环境功能已经发生一些问题或较严重问题;地下水可持续利用性较弱区分布于各流域排泄区绿洲带内;盆地中心区排泄区和各流域咸卤水分布区,地下水可持续利用性弱,地下水的生态功能或地质环境功能已经发生很严重的问题。     

法国的流域管理

法国水管理的成功经验主要体现在遵循自然流域（大水文单元）规律，设置流域水管理机构，统一规划和管理水资源，在保护环境的前提下，实现流域水资源的高效开发利用。     

昆明盆地地下水超采区水资源评价

随着经济快速发展,昆明盆地淡水资源供需矛盾日益加剧,部分地区地下水超采严重。为合理开发、利用与保护地下水资源,根据地下水位动态变化以及其引发问题等因素评价了昆明盆地地下水超采情况,并划定了超采区域。评价结果表明至2010年底,昆明盆地地下水总超采区面积为128 km²,属于中型超采区,且各超采区均为禁采区。同时提出了治理超采区的措施和建议,可为区域地下水资源的科学管理提供技术支撑。     

加强珠江水资源的流域管理

珠江水资源总量丰富，但时空分布不均，水旱灾害严重。随着经济社会的发展，水资源供需、开发利用与保护的矛盾日益突出。为适应经济社会可持续发展，必须认真贯彻实施新水法，加强珠江水资源的流域管理。     

呼伦湖流域水文干旱评价

以呼伦湖流域2个水文站阿拉坦额莫勒站和坤都冷站1971—2010年的月径流量资料为基础,计算了流域的径流干旱指数,同时运用游程理论对径流干旱指数进行了分析,进而得到呼伦湖流域的干旱历时和干旱烈度。结果表明:呼伦湖流域干旱主要发生在秋季和冬季;随着年代的变化,阿拉坦额莫勒站和坤都冷站平均干旱历时和平均干旱烈度均呈增长状态;进入21世纪以后,呼伦湖流域干旱频发,且持续时间长、干旱烈度大。     

加强流域管理 维护健康长江

长江流域是当今中国最具经济活力和发展潜力的区域,加强流域水管理关系到国家经济社会长远发展的大局,同时也是世界河流管理的趋势和方向.总结了近年来长江水利委员会在认真履行法定职责和管理职能、探索新时期治江思路、强化流域规划、加强流域水行政管理、实施水库群联合优化调度、推进流域水生态环境保护与建设、积极参与四川水利抗震救灾等方面所取得的成功经验和工作成效.提出了维护健康长江的思路和对策:一是要处理好开发与保护、江湖两利、电调与水调的关系;二是要抓好流域规划、水行政管理和科技基础三项关键工作;三是要加强法律法规、执行机制和管理队伍建设,以适应维护健康长江的客观要求,确保长江水资源永续利用.     

淮河流域水质及回顾分析

对 1995～ 2 0 0 0年淮河流域水质进行评价及回顾分析 ,充分利用河道径流量资料 ,分析了淮河流域豫皖边界、皖苏边界、苏皖边界、鲁苏边界和淮河王家坝、颖河界首、洪河班台、涡河付桥闸以及淮河干流 6个断面的输污量及污染成因 ,指出目前的水质改善是高污染水平上的初步控制 ,实现淮河水变清的任务依然艰巨     

Sediment Yield Assessment of a Large Basin using PSIAC Approach in GIS Environment

Reservoirs are the key infrastructure for the socio-economic development of a country. The reservoirs are proven to be a remedial solution of highly erratic spatial and temporal availability of water. The growth in population and consequent developmental activities within a catchment area has shown to aggravate the problem of sedimentation which comprised of erosion, sediment transport and its deposition in these reservoirs. Among all above mentioned, reservoir sediment deposition is most important as it reduces its useful life and impairs the purposes of these vast water resource. The sediment yield has been considered as comprehensive index for assessing sustainability of such resources. The present study investigates the suitability of Pacific Southwest Inter-Agency Committee (PSIAC) model in determining the sediment yield rate for a drainage basin considering nine basin factors in geographical information system (GIS) environment. For the analysis, a large river basin at the foothill of Himalayas in India has been considered as case study. It was realized that the GIS approach made large basin characteristic sampling very easy and efficient for this hilly basin. A regression equation between specific sediment yield and effective model factors was established based on geomorphic features for this basin. It was observed that most of the basin area is falling under moderate to high sediment yielding potential zone, leading to high sediment yield.     

Economic Assessment of Best Management Practices in the Mara River Basin: Toward Implementing Payment for Watershed Services

The Mara River in East Africa is currently experiencing poor water quality and increased fluctuations in seasonal flow. Improved water quality will require upstream farmers and foresters to adopt Best Management Practices (BMPs), which might cost them considerably. This study proposes a Payment for Watershed Services (PWS) mechanism. This is a market-based approach, whereby downstream water users would pay upstream watershed service providers towards the costs of BMPs implementation. This study analyzes the technical feasibility and economic viability of adapting selected BMPs and provides cost estimates of a PWS program. Using three criteria of water quality improvement, economic feasibility, and technical suitability, a detailed economic opportunity cost analysis revealed that farmers would indeed incur economic losses for all BMPs except no-till farming. We also developed a multi-criteria (demographic and environmental) methodology for identifying land areas to be placed under BMPs. More than 122,000 ha of land would require BMPs, including a moratorium on agriculture inside the Mau Forest Complex. The initial per hectare opportunity costs across the five highest ranked BMPs ranged from US$ 272 to US$ 926. Using these cost estimates, the paper draws some valuable policy and management insights on how to finance BMP implementation.     

流域机构与黄河水资源统一管理

通过对黄河水资源管理的现状分析，提出黄河水资源统一管理的基本思路，即坚持政府宏观调控，民主协商、水市场调节三有机结合的基本配置模式，以及政府在市场管理和利益调节过程中的宏观调控作用，搞好水资源综合规划，合理优化配置水资源。     

长江流域管理——在长江-欧盟流域管理高层对话会上的主题发言

各位领导,各位来宾,女士们,先生们: 今天,我们相聚在长江流域最大最美丽的城市上海,共同探讨流域综合管理.在此,我谨代表长江水利委员会,向来自各个国家和地区的嘉宾、专家和朋友,表示最热烈的欢迎!     

流域管理谱就漳卫南运河精彩华章

漳卫南运河是海河流域南系最重要的河流之一,全长932km,由漳河、卫河、卫运河、漳卫新河和南运河组成,发源于太行山区,自西向东,流经山西、河北、河南、山东、天津四省一市,汇入渤海,流域面积3．77万km^2,人口近5000万。     

推进流域管理与行政区域管理相结合的水资源管理体制建设

九届人大常委会第29次会议通过的新《水法》,把改革水资源管理体制作为重点,强化了水资源的统一管理,规定水资源实行流域管理与行政区域管理相结合的管理体制。这种体制既不是欧洲等许多国家实行的以流域管理为主的管理体制,也不是完全以行政区域分割管理的体制。这是多年来水资源管理经验的总结,是我国国情决定的,也是我国社会经济发展、水资源紧缺、水污染严重形势下的必然 选择。实行这一体制为实现我国水资源的可持续利用提供了有力的组织保障,具有十分重要而深远的影响。从多年来的工作实践来看,要建立比较完善、正常运转的流域管理与…     

The Assessment of Irrigation Efficiency in Buyuk Menderes Basin

While extending irrigated areas to augment agricultural production, irrigation efficiency should be increased not only to improve the agricultural production but also to obtain the sustainable use of valuable and limited water resources. Through the use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is a linear programming technique to determine the relative efficiency of a decision-making unit, it is possible to decide whether the use of water in an irrigation district is efficient or not. In this study, an input oriented DEA model is constituted to focus on the efficient use of inputs, and the method is applied to the irrigation districts having similar types of agriculture in the Buyuk Menderes Basin, Turkey. This paper aims to determine the efficient irrigation district(s), in other words where the application of water is the most profitable, considering two inputs; water volume supplied and the total irrigated area, and one output, the total value of agricultural production. The weight restrictions consistent with decision makers’ value judgements are added as constraints into the DEA models to prevent excessive weight flexibility assigned to inputs and outputs. The results have provided the efficiency scores of the irrigation districts and numerically delineated desired features of the irrigation districts for maximum efficiency. The analyses for three study years have inferred the robustness of the results. It is concluded that DEA is a practical tool for detecting local inefficiencies and proposing possible improvements for irrigation districts that could offer the greatest potential for growth.     

流域管理的局限性

自1992年水与环境大会在都柏林和里约热内卢召开以来,流域综合管理逐渐在全球得到广泛认可。《水框架指令》实施以前,欧盟的水资源管理政策主要针对河道和湖泊。相比而言,法国、东德和波兰早已采取了基于流域的管理方式,西德采取的是跨流域的管理政策。然而由于诸多因素,对流域管理应持谨慎态度。《水框架指令》本身包含的类型学和形态生物学等因素与流域无直接关系,而给流域边界造成压力和污染的因素却并未纳入其中。从行政管理角度来看,如果严格执行流域管理措施,在处理地下水和涉及跨领域事务时,会出现重大的功能性问题。因此,在实施流域管理政策时,不应过于教条化。实施水资源管理必须具备坚实的科学基础,同时应考虑到现实状况,并符合政治意愿。     

Drought Risk Assessment and Management

The paper presents an overview of issues related to the estimation of drought severity, the vulnerability of affected systems towards the drought hazards, the assessment of system drought risk and the required preparedness planning against droughts. To face these recurrent and temporary phenomena, a proactive approach is promoted based on technocratic support, systematic organisational and institutional structure and active public participation. Special emphasis is given to the simple and practical approaches, though scientifically sound, for the characterisation of drought episodes and the assessment of drought risk affected systems.