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Overview of Middle East Water Resources
Abstract and Figures
Multilateral working groups, to advance the Middle East Peace Process, were formed
in January 1992. One of these groups, the Water Resources Working Group, endorsed
the Water Data Banks Project in November 1994. The Water Data Banks Project
consists of a series of specific actions to be taken by the Israelis, Jordanians, and
Palestinians (Core Parties) that are designed to foster the adoption of common,
standardized data collection and storage techniques among the Parties, improve the
quality of the water-resources data collected in the region, and to improve communication
among the scientific community in the region. The project is managed by an
Executive Action Team (EXACT) comprised of water experts from Israeli, Jordanian,
and Palestinian water-management agencies. Technical and financial support to
EXACT is contributed by the United States, European Union, Canada, France,
Norway, and Australia. The authors of this report are Hazim El-Naser of the Jordanian
Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Mustafa F. Nuseibeh and Karen K. Assaf of the
Palestinian Water Authority, and Shmuel Kessler and Meir Ben-Zvi of the Israeli
Hydrological Service. Contributions from the Core Parties were submitted separately
and then compiled into this report by Mark N. Landers and John S. Clarke, and
designed by Caryl J. Wipperfurth, of the U.S. Geological Survey.
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... Potential evapotranspiration in the valley floor is about 2,000 mm/yr, and actual evaporation from the Dead Sea surface is about 1,300-1,600 mm/yr (Stanhill 1984). The temperature is about 40°C in summer and 15°C in winter (Assaf et al. 1998). At the east and west there are steep escarpments, while in the north and south, the valley stretches gently upward along the Jordan River and along the Wadi Araba, respectively. ...
... The most visible and most disturbing degradation is the decline of the Dead Sea water level and volume. Since around 1930 the water level of the Dead Sea has MEDAQUA Conference, Amman, 14-15 Jun 2004 fallen by about 25 m, about half of this alone in the last 20 years (Anati and Shasha 1989;Assaf et al. 1998). In the past few years the rate of decline was 80-100 cm per year. ...
The Dead Sea basin plays a major role for regional economic development (industry, tourism and agriculture). This potential is threatened by the steady disappearance of the Dead Sea. Since around 1930 the water level of the Dead Sea has fallen by about 25 m, about half of this alone in the last 20 years. These causes for the decline are a direct result of the water management strategies of the riparian and upstream countries. Water from the natural inflows (the Jordan River and side wadis) has been blocked and diverted for urban and agricultural uses inside and outside the water-shed. In addition, much water is pumped from the Dead Sea into evaporation ponds, which alone constitutes about 25 % of the present total evaporation rates. The decline undermines the potential as a tourist destination, despite the enormous investment in hotel and resort infrastructures in Israel and in Jordan. The decline also raises ethical issues about the exploitation of water resources by the present genera-tions at the expense of the natural heritage in the future. The "Dead Sea" project aims to synthesize and assess existing physical and socio-economic data and to assess options for a better future. It will identify the patterns of water supply and use in the region, and the factors that control these patterns. The underlying assumption is that solutions for a more sustainable development than today scenario will not come from simply providing "more water for more develop-ment", but from a new land and water management system that is sensitive to social, cultural and ecological resources.
... 1000m [Baalousha, 2006]. Older groups, like the Judea, Kurnub and Arad Group contain dolomite and 140 sandstone and developed between the Jurassic and Cretaceous era [Assaf et al., 1998]. To the estimate the latent heat flux ʎE or actual evaporation (ETR), respectively, the Triangle Method, originally 147 published by Price [1990] then elaborated by Carlson [1995] and Jiang and Islam [1999], is a widespread Various studies showed acceptable deviations from point-measurements of evaporation rates of +/-10 -30 % 150 [Kalma et al. 2008]. ...
In the Mediterranean region, particularly in the Gaza strip, an increased risk of drought is among the major concerns related to climate change. The impacts of climate change on water availability, drought risk and food security can be assessed by means of hydro-climatological modeling. However, the region is prone to severe observation data scarcity, which limits the potential for robust model parameterization, calibration and validation. In this study, the physically based, spatially distributed hydrological model WaSiM is parameterized and evaluated using satellite imagery to assess hydrological quantities. The Triangle Method estimates actual evapotranspiration (ETR) through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) provided by Landsat TM imagery. So-derived spatially distributed evapotranspiration is then used in two ways: first a subset of the imagery is used to parameterize the irrigation module of WaSiM and second, withheld scenes are applied to evaluate the performance of the hydrological model in the data scarce study area. The results show acceptable overall correlation with the validation scenes (r=0.53) and an improvement over the usual irrigation parameterization scheme using land use information exclusively. This model setup is then applied for future drought risk assessment in the Gaza Strip using a small ensemble of four regional climate projections for the period 2041-2070. Hydrological modeling reveals an increased risk of drought, assessed with an evapotranspiration index, compared to the reference period 1971-2000. Current irrigation procedures cannot maintain the agricultural productivity under future conditions without adaptation.
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... The valley slopes gently upward to the north along the Jordan River, and to the south along the Wadi Araba. Since 1978, the Dead Sea has retreated, and the sea body turned into two basins: the principal northern one that is about 308 m deep (in 1997), and the shallow southern one with the Lisan (or Lashon) Peninsula and the Lynch Straits in between, which has a sill elevation of about 400 m below the sea level [14]. ...
Developed tools of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System are rapidly spread in recent years in order to manage natural resources and to monitor environmental changes. This research aims to study the spatial behavior of the Dead Sea through time. To achieve this aim, time series analysis has been performed to track this behavior. For this purpose, fifteen satellite imageries are collected from 1972 to 2013 in addition to 2011-ASTGTM-DEM. Then, the satellite imageries are radiometrically and atmospherically corrected. Geographic Information system and Remote Sensing techniques are used for the spatio-temporal analysis in order to detect changes in the Dead Sea area, shape, water level, and volume. The study shows that the Dead Sea shrinks by 2.9 km 2 /year while the water level decreases by 0.65 m/year. Consequently, the volume changes by-0.42 km 3 /year. The study has also concluded that the direction of this shrinkage is from the north, northwest and from the south direction of the northern part due to the nature of the bath-ymetric slopes. In contrast, no shrinkage is detected from the east direction due to the same reason since the bathymetric slope is so sharp. The use of the Dead Sea water for industrial purposes by both Israel and Jordan is one of the essential factors that affect the area of the Dead Sea. The intensive human water consumption from the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers for other usages is another main reason of this shrinkage in the area as well.
Given the rapid development within China, the inequality of available water resources has been increasingly of interest. Current methods for assessing water stress are inadequate for province-scale rapid monitoring. A more responsive indicator at a finer scale is needed to understand the distribution of water stress in China. This paper selected Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line-scan System night-time stable lights as a proxy for water stress at the province level in China from 2004 to 2012, as night-time lights are closely linked with population density, electricity consumption and other social, economic and environmental indicators associated with water stress. The linear regression results showed the intensity of night-time lights can serve as a predictive tool to assess water stress across provinces with an R2 from 0.797 to 0.854. The model worked especially well in some regions, such as East China, North China and South West China. Nonetheless, confounding factors interfered with the predictive relationship, including population density, level of economic development, natural resource endowment and industrial structures, etc. The model was not greatly improved by building a multi-variable linear regression including agricultural and industrial indicators. A straightforward predictor of water stress using remotely sensed data was developed.
Quantitative assessments of sustainability are recognized as critical inputs for policy planning. However, quite often such assessments are carried out for isolated resource (like water) or secondary demand (like food). However, while food production depends on many factors, arable land is a primary non-renewable resource. We present quantitative criticality index based on a combined defined in terms of primary resources and apply to the world as well as to China and India (most populous countries) as well as United States of America (among the largest countries). It is shown that the number of countries and the % of regional and world population that are sub-critical are significantly more than those for any isolated resource. While the number of sub-critical countries are increasing both in terms of arable land and water, this increase is higher in terms of combined sub-criticality
The Dead Sea basin plays a major role for regional economic development (industry, tourism and agriculture). This potential is threatened by the steady disappearance of the Dead Sea. Since around 1930 the water level of the Dead Sea has fallen by about 25 m, about half of this alone in the last 20 years. The Dead Sea is the terminal point of the Jordan River watershed. As such, it serves as a barometer for the health of the overall system. Its rapid decline reflects the present water management strategies of the riparian and upstream countries.
Elements pertaining to environmental security, whereby a sustainably managed environment provides for social, economic as well as environmental benefits are evident with regards the Dead Sea. The decline for example, undermines its potential as a tourist destination, despite the enormous investment in hotel and resort infrastructures in Israel and in Jordan. The decline also raises ethical issues about the exploitation of water resources by present generations at the expense of this natural heritage to future generations.
This paper provides a preliminary analysis of a European Union funded project whose aims are to synthesize and assess existing physical and socio-economic data and to assess options for a better future for the Dead Sea. It will identify the patterns of water supply and use in the region, and the factors that control these patterns. The underlying assumption is that solutions for a more sustainable development than today scenario will not come from simply providing “more water for more development”, but from a new land and water management system that is sensitive to social, cultural and ecological resources thereby providing security and stability across sectors and nations.
As a first step, the project team has established a system model that combines the physical and social dimensions of water use. Data, information and knowledge between the human dimension (economy, sociology etc.) and the physical dimension (hydrology, ecology, agriculture, water planning) are linked under changing scenarios. The model is an attempt to reflect the complexity inherent in the system through the mapping of human and physical connections. An understanding of these connections can lead to a more secure environment for both.
The Dead Sea basin plays a major role for regional economic development (industry, tourism and agriculture). This potential
is threatened by the steady disappearance of the Dead Sea. Since around 1930 the water level of the Dead Sea has fallen by
about 25 m, about half of this alone in the last 20 years. The Dead Sea is the terminal point of the Jordan River watershed.
As such, it serves as a barometer for the health of the overall system. Its rapid decline reflects the present water management
strategies of the riparian and upstream countries.
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