Evaluation of water shortage crisis in the Middle East and possible remedies

Bozorg‐Haddad, Omid; Zolghadr‐Asli, Babak; Sarzaeim, Parisa; Aboutalebi, Mahyar; Chu, Xuefeng; Loáiciga, Hugo A.

doi:10.2166/aqua.2019.049

Cited by 83 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Bozorg-Haddad et al [43] studied the water scarcity in the Middle East region (including Iraq) by Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment remote-sensing technique, their analysis indicates descending trend of water storage in the region. The two water scarcity indices, water equivalent anomaly (WEA) and total water storage (TWS) depletion calculated and revealed that the region has very negative water scarcity indices.…”

Section: Wft (Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Main Cereal Crop Trade Impacts on Water and Land Security in Iraq

2020

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Growing populations, socio-economic development, the pollution of rivers, and the withdrawal of fresh water are all signs of increasing water scarcity, and with 85% of global use, agriculture is the biggest freshwater user. The water footprint (WF) and virtual water (VW) are concepts used recently for freshwater resources assessment. The WF reflects how much, when and where the water was used whereas VW reveals the volume of water embedded in goods when traded. The first goal of this research is to determine the WF per ton and the WF of production (Mm3/yr) of wheat, barley, rice, and maize in Iraq. The second goal is estimating the quantities of the 4 main cereal crops imported into Iraq and assessing the impact on reducing WF and land savings for 10 years from 2007 to 2016. The results showed that the WF per ton was 1736, 1769, 3694, 2238 m3/ton and the WF of production was 5271, 1475, 997, 820 Mm3/yr for wheat, barley, rice, and maize, respectively. The median total VW imported was 4408 Mm3/yr, the largest volume was 3478 Mm3/yr from wheat, and Iraq saved about 2676 Mm3 of irrigated water and 1,239,539 M ha of land by importing crops every year during 2007–2016. The study revealed the significance of better irrigation management methods to decrease the WF through a selection of crops that need less water and cultivation in rain-fed areas, as well as the use of cereal import to conserve scarce water resources, which is crucial both in terms of water resource management and preservation of the environment. The results of this research could be used as a guideline for better water management practices in Iraq and can provide helpful data for both stakeholders and policymakers.

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Section: Wft (Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Main Cereal Crop Trade Impacts on Water and Land Security in Iraq

2020

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“…The Middle East is located in the southwest of Asia and is well known for its significant energy resources such as oil and gas. Due to the semiarid and arid climates in large parts of the Middle East, this region always faces a water shortage crisis [1]. During the last few decades, due to the intense growth of the population and industries, the importance of water resources has considerably increased in this region [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stable Isotope Characteristics of Precipitation in the Middle East Highlighting the Link between the Köppen Climate Classifications and the δ18O and δ2H Values of Precipitation

Heydarizad

Gimeno

Sorí

et al. 2021

Water

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The Middle East is faced with a water shortage crisis due to its semiarid and arid climate. In this paper, precipitation as an important part of the water cycle was evaluated in 43 stations across the Middle East using the stable isotope technique to study the parameters which influence the stable isotope content of precipitation. First, the stepwise regression model was applied to determine the main geographical and climatological factors affecting the stable isotopes in precipitation. Secondly, the stepwise model was also used to simulate the stable isotope values in precipitation. Furthermore, due to the notable climatic variations across the Middle East, the precipitation sampling stations were classified into six groups based on the Köppen climate zones. Significant variations in the stable isotope values of precipitation were observed in the stations of each climate zone. Finally, the Middle East meteoric water line was developed for the dry and wet periods based on the average stable isotopes in the studied stations. The developed lines showed a lower slope compared to the GMWL due to the higher air temperature and relative humidity in the Middle East compared to the average global conditions. To conclude, the stable isotope contents in precipitation showed significant temporal and spatial variations due to the notable climatic variations across the Middle East.

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“…There are two main clustering methods: hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis. Hierarchical clustering (used in this study) combines cases into homogeneous clusters where objects at one level are combined with objects at another level and produce clusters that are not allowed to overlap (Bunkers and Miller, 1996;Yim and Ramdeen, 2015). Two different strategies for hierarchical clustering exist: agglomerative and divisive (Lior and Maimon, 2005).…”

Section: Cluster Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scientists have also warned that the water shortage will continue further in the coming decades in the Middle East, where water is one of the most valuable and vulnerable natural resources (Mehryar et al, 2015;Ashraf et al, 2019;Bozorg-Haddad et al, 2020). Iran is one of the countries suffering a freshwater shortage and climate change consequences (Karimi et al, 2018;Afshar and Fahimi, 2019;Emami and Koch, 2019;Naderi, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delineation of dew formation zones in Iran using long-term model simulations and cluster analysis

Atashi

Rahimi

Sinclair

et al. 2021

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Dew is a non-conventional source of water that has been gaining interest over the last two decades, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, we performed a long-term (1979–2018) energy balance model simulation to estimate dew formation potential in Iran aiming to identify dew formation zones and to investigate the impacts of long-term variation in meteorological parameters on dew formation. The annual average of dew occurrence in Iran was ∼102 d, with the lowest number of dewy days in summer (∼7 d) and the highest in winter (∼45 d). The average daily dew yield was in the range of 0.03–0.14 L m−2 and the maximum was in the range of 0.29–0.52 L m−2. Six dew formation zones were identified based on cluster analysis of the time series of the simulated dew yield. The distribution of dew formation zones in Iran was closely aligned with topography and sources of moisture. Therefore, the coastal zones in the north and south of Iran (i.e., Caspian Sea and Oman Sea), showed the highest dew formation potential, with 53 and 34 L m−2 yr−1, whereas the dry interior regions (i.e., central Iran and the Lut Desert), with the average of 12–18 L m−2 yr−1, had the lowest potential for dew formation. Dew yield estimation is very sensitive to the choice of the heat transfer coefficient. The uncertainty analysis of the heat transfer coefficient using eight different parameterizations revealed that the parameterization used in this study – the Richards (2004) formulation – gives estimates that are similar to the average of all methods and are neither much lower nor much higher than the majority of other parameterizations and the largest differences occur for the very low values of daily dew yield. Trend analysis results revealed a significant (p<0.05) negative trend in the yearly dew yield in most parts of Iran during the last 4 decades (1979–2018). Such a negative trend in dew formation is likely due to an increase in air temperature and a decrease in relative humidity and cloudiness over the 40 years.

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Evaluation of water shortage crisis in the Middle East and possible remedies

Cited by 83 publications

References 22 publications

Assessment of Main Cereal Crop Trade Impacts on Water and Land Security in Iraq

Assessment of Main Cereal Crop Trade Impacts on Water and Land Security in Iraq

The Stable Isotope Characteristics of Precipitation in the Middle East Highlighting the Link between the Köppen Climate Classifications and the δ18O and δ2H Values of Precipitation

Delineation of dew formation zones in Iran using long-term model simulations and cluster analysis

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