Geospatial Techniques for Improved Water Management in Jordan

Abstract

This research shows a case from Jordan where geospatial techniques were utilized for irrigation water auditing. The work was based on assessing records of groundwater abstraction in relation to irrigated areas and estimated crop water consumption in three water basins: Yarmouk, Amman-Zarqa and Azraq. Mapping of irrigated areas and crop water requirements was carried out using remote sensing data of Landsat 8 and daily weather records. The methodology was based on visual interpretation and the unsupervised classification for remote sensing data, supported by ground surveys. Net (NCWR) and gross (GCWR) crop water requirements were calculated by merging crop evapotranspiration (ETc), calculated from daily weather records, with maps of irrigated crops. Gross water requirements were compared with groundwater abstractions recorded at a farm level to assess the levels of abstraction in relation to groundwater safe yield. Results showed that irrigated area and GCWR were higher than officially recorded cropped area and abstracted groundwater. The over abstraction of groundwater was estimated to range from 144% to 360% of the safe yield in the three basins. Overlaying the maps of irrigation and groundwater wells enabled the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) to detect and uncover violations and illegal practices of irrigation, in the form of unlicensed wells, incorrect metering of pumped water and water conveyance for long distances. Results from the work were utilized at s high level of decision-making and changes to the water law were made, with remote sensing data being accredited for monitoring water resources in Jordan.

Impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on land use and transboundary freshwater resources

“…It is noteworthy that unlike other irrigation sources (e.g., groundwater), surface-irrigation water would have otherwise resulted in runoff flowing into Jordan and would have been observed at the Al-Wehda gauge if not used for irrigation in Syria. Assuming a local average crop water use of 700 mm·y −1 (16), crop water use estimations presented in Fig. 4C suggest that only about 7-35% of irrigation demand is supplied by stored surface water, with the remainder being supplied by groundwater, surface water imports (Fig.…”

The Potential for Enhanced Water Decoupling in the Jordan Basin through Regional Agricultural Best Practice

“…This methodology has been used to uncover illegal water use in Jordanian agriculture (Al-Bakri, et al, 2016) [28], but might also have the potential to identify whether there are significant surface or sub-surface return flows, and indeed whether there are significant differences in non-productive evaporation between Israeli and Jordanian farm plots. A deeper interrogation of how the differences in water application relate to real differences in crop water use (evapotranspiration per yield) will be a crucial next step to further understand differences in agricultural water productivity and quantifying the real potential to produce savings at the system level.…”

Detection of a Real Time Remote Sensing Indices and Soil Moisture for Drought Monitoring and Assessment in Jordan

“…data of spectral reflectance at ground level [17]. Since the study was based on multi-temporal images, atmospheric corrections were carried out using ground readings for reference objects collected by a hand held radiometer for one image and carrying out an image-to-image correction for the remaining images [10]. The images were also Table 1).…”

“…In Jordan, adverse trends of climate changes and increased frequency and severity of droughts are expected to add more stresses to the countries scarce water resources [9] [10]. The country's water sector policy for drought management emphasized the need for a national drought early warning system to form the basis for decision-making and effective drought management planning [11].…”