Adaptation of climate variability/extreme in arid environment of the Arabian peninsula by rainwater harvesting and management

Abstract

Water management in Saudi Arabia is facing major challenges due to the limited water resources and increasing uncertainties caused by climate change. The rainfall and temperature records of the Saudi meteorological data for more than three decades were analyzed for policy suggestions in water sectors based on the changing rainfall patterns. The trends in the annual aridity and rain indices were also examined to define the changing climate conditions and for determining the dry months in different cities of the Kingdom. An increased annual and maximum rainfall was observed for six cities while a decreasing trend in both annual and maximum rainfall was observed for the same number of cities highlighting the variability of rainfall in the whole region. An increasing maximum rainfall with decreasing annual rainfall was observed for the rest of the cities signifying the more extreme rainfall evens and resulting floods of short durations. The changing rainfall trends were also observed for different months during 31 years of the recorded period in addition to the varying climate pattern for different cities within the same district. Finally, these preliminary assessments of any systematic changes in view of the increased rain intensities and extreme climate events are viewed to demonstrate the value rainwater harvesting and management as a local adaptation to the climate variability and extreme in the Kingdom.

Water scarcity in the Arabian Peninsula and socio-economic implications

“…The groundwater of most of the deep aquifers requires treatment such as cooling, aeration to remove hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide gases, and lime soda processing. These water scarcity issues in the region are intensified by climate variations and changes that alter the hydrologic cycle and many of the countries are dependent mainly on groundwater, desalination and treated wastewater (Amin et al 2013;Chowdhury and Champagne 2006). Many groundwater aquifers within the Arabian Gulf countries are being mined in an uncontrolled and unplanned manner, either because it has not been possible to regulate the access to these aquifers and/or they are non-renewable (Osman-Elasha 2010).…”

Assessing the Potential for Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting from Large Public Institutions

“…A number of studies show RWH to be commonly used as an alternative water supply source both in developed and developing countries such as the United States of America [ 15 ], United Kingdom [ 16 ], Australia [ 17 ], Germany [ 18 ], Ethiopia [ 19 ], South Africa [ 20 ], Sudan [ 21 ], Nigeria [ 22 ], Brazil [ 23 ], Saudi Arabia [ 24 ], and Iran [ 25 ]. Despite RWH being widely practiced, some concerns and barriers exist.…”

Impacts of high-intensity storms on urban transportation: applying traffic flow control methodologies for quantifying the effects

“…The predicted increase in the frequency of extreme weather events (EWE) due to climate change has been studied in the literature, mostly focusing on detailed statistical analyses of extreme weather and climate event trends based on observations (Rosenzweig et al 2001;Monirul and Mirza 2003;Meehl et al 2000;Easterling et al 2000;Amin et al 2013). Findings show that the impacts of climate change might become more severe in the coming years, due to the increasing frequency of EWE rather than due to the overall change of the ''average'' climate (Mitsakis et al 2013).…”