Evaluation of policy scenarios for water resources planning and management in an arid region

Mohamed, Mohamed M.; Elshorbagy, Walid; Kizhisseri, Mohamed I.; Chowdhury, R. K.; McDonald, Adrian

doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2020.100758

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The optimized and calibrated values of parameters are summarized in the Table 2 . This could serve as baseline values for developing water scenarios, as discussed in [ 46 ] to set up the water vision for Abu Dhabi.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, it is assumed that Abu Dhabi will have an increased rainfall by 20%, by its sustainable policy which targets an increase in rainfall through artificial rain program using harmless natural salts [ 51 ]. The climate change strategy that was incorporated into Abu Dhabi Environment Vision 2030 [ 46 ] is also taken into account in this simulation. Iterative simulations were then conducted to find the optimized reductions needed for different sectors to achieve the BWB.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of a dynamic water budget model for Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE

et al. 2021

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In this study, a dynamic water budget model is developed for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (EAD) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The model, called Abu Dhabi Water Budget Model (ADWBM), accounts for a number of drivers such as population growth, economic growth, consumption pattern and climatic factors. Model formulation, calibration, validation as well as simulation results for two future situations are presented in this paper. The two water simulations discuss demand-side options in response to different future water conditions until 2050. The first simulation, namely, baseline (BL) simulation examined water balance in the emirate assuming no change in both water production and consumption. BL simulation results highlight the expected shortages in water resources assuming no modification in the supply side. The second simulation, a more conservative and practical simulation considering water conservation options and sustainable improvements to the supply side was developed to achieve a balanced water budget by reducing the baseline consumption rates. The results show that a significant demand reduction is needed in all demand sectors, reaching 60% in the potable sectors and above 70% in non-potable sectors. Overall, results show that the ADWBM can be used as a numerical tool to produce accurate figures of water supply and demand for the sake of planning and decision making in the water sector of the EAD until 2050.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a dynamic water budget model for Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE

et al. 2021

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“…Mohamed et al [25] evaluated the impact of the urban growth of Abu Dhabi city on water supply and demand to 2050 based on four sustainable scenarios: Business as Usual (BAU), Policy First (PF), Sustainability by Conservation (SC), and Rainfall-Enhanced Sustainability (RES). The study analyzed the opportunities and limitations of each scenario, supported by simulations results which showed that both SC and RES scenarios would reach a balanced water budget up to 2050 as a target year of the study.…”

Section: Hydrological Issues Associated With Urban Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Hydrological Studies in the United Arab Emirates

Almheiri

Rustum

Wright

et al. 2023

Water

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The increasing interest in hydrological studies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has resulted in the publication of several papers on hydrology and its broad use for addressing contemporaneous challenges confronting humans and the environment in the region. However, for several reasons, these efforts have remained invisible and unrecognized. This paper has reviewed the literature on hydrological research in the UAE to provide a comprehensive source of information for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The documented studies were carefully selected, relying on a bibliometric analysis methodology of five phases to specify the boundary of the study area, adopt the primary keywords for the search, evaluate the obtained papers, exclude the non-conforming ones, and classify the final results into four distinguished topics—namely, rainfall analysis, urban growth and flood hazards, cloud seeding and changing climate, and groundwater situation and utilization. The evaluation process considered assessing the papers’ relevancy, authenticity, and coverage of the main issues of interest. In all, a total of 50 published papers were identified based on the specified criteria and reviewed. The main findings were first that the amount of rainfall over the UAE has been declining in the last decade, and this trend is expected to continue, although intensities are rising, suggesting shorter duration events. Secondly, the extensive urban growth in the country has resulted in increasing incidences of urban floods and declining groundwater recharge. Both of these are to be expected as consequences of the increased imperviousness from urbanization and the higher intensities from shorter-duration rainfall events. Thirdly, although the cloud-seeding program has proved to be successful in increasing precipitation amounts, the impact of this on flooding due to more extreme rainfall intensities and on air quality remains worrisome. Finally, groundwater analyses have shown that it is still the main freshwater resource in the country, but its long-term sustainability and quality are being threatened by the declining recharge. This calls for a national policy for groundwater management in the UAE to tackle the challenges associated with the increasing demand for water in all sectors of the economy. The study recommended addressing the gap in the hydrological literature of the UAE, specifically in the field of big meteorological data analysis, the socioeconomic impacts of urban floods, the impacts of climate change in urbanized regions, and the possibility of using alternative resources to recharge groundwater as part of sustainable water management.

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“…This groundwater level decline has increased the cost of drilling boreholes because water is struck at a deeper depth and has increased pumping costs with increased pumping head. This also increases the risk of groundwater depletion, which may lead to water shortages and land subsidence due to groundwater mining if management measures are not put in place [17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Recharge and Abstraction on Groundwater Levels

2022

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Groundwater constitutes 99% of all liquid freshwater globally that is available for human use. Groundwater levels in the Nairobi aquifer system (NAS) have been declining over time because of excessive abstraction fueled by increased water demand. This has increased the cost of pumping and drilling boreholes, which is unsustainable. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of recharge and abstraction on groundwater levels using a more realistic approach by estimating recharge using the SWAT model while considering climatic data, soil type, land use/cover, and topography. Recharge obtained from SWAT was applied in MODFLOW to model the groundwater system. Results showed that the average annual recharge was 73 mm, which is about 9.7% of the precipitation. Groundwater levels decreased with an increase in abstraction and a decrease in recharge and vice versa. Groundwater levels will decrease by 76 m by the year 2063 if the abstraction rate is kept constant and the recharge is maintained, and will decrease by 14m by the year 2030 if the trend of abstraction rate continues to increase while recharge is kept constant. The abstraction rate should be regulated according to available recharge and recharge enhanced to avoid possible depletion of groundwater. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-05-05 Full Text: PDF

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Evaluation of policy scenarios for water resources planning and management in an arid region

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

Development of a dynamic water budget model for Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE

Development of a dynamic water budget model for Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE

A Review of Hydrological Studies in the United Arab Emirates

Effect of Recharge and Abstraction on Groundwater Levels

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