Water scarcity in the Arabian Peninsula and socio-economic implications

Odhiambo, George

doi:10.1007/s13201-016-0440-1

Cited by 101 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…With the anticipated future limited desalination capacity and reuse of wastewater [70], further exploration of groundwater resources would have to meet this requirement. Therefore, socio-economic activities are related to the use of natural resources that need immediate concern for the conservation and development of water resources [71]. The prospective mapping of groundwater in the studied watershed, which is one of the most relevant regions for Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspots [72], will have a significant impact on the Aseer area [73].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Groundwater Potential Zone in a Semi-Arid Region of Aseer Using Fuzzy-AHP and Geoinformation Techniques

Mallick

Khan

Ahmed

et al. 2019

Water

164

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Saudi Arabia’s arid and semi-arid regions suffer from water scarcity because of climatic constraints and rapid growth of domestic and industrial water uses. The growing demand for high-quality water supplies and to reduce the dependency on desalination creates an urgent need to explore groundwater resources as an alternative. The weighted overlay analysis method using the fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques combined with geoinformation technology was used in this study to explore the groundwater potential zones in the Itwad-Khamis watershed of Saudi Arabia. Twelve thematic layers were prepared and processed in a GIS setting to produce the groundwater potential zone map (GPZM). Subsequently, potential groundwater areas were delineated and drawn into five classes: very good potential, good potential, moderate potential, poor potential, and very poor potential. The estimated GWPZ (groundwater potential zones) was validated by analyzing the existing open wells distribution and the yield data of selected wells within the studied watershed. With this quality-based zoning, it was found that 82% of existing wells were located in a very good and good potential area. The statistical analysis showed that 14.6% and 28.8% of the total area were under very good and good, while 27.3% and 20.2% were accounted for the moderate and poor potential zone, respectively. To achieve sustainable groundwater management in the Aseer region, Saudi Arabia, this research provided a primary estimate and significant insights for local water managers and authorities by providing groundwater potential zone map.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Groundwater Potential Zone in a Semi-Arid Region of Aseer Using Fuzzy-AHP and Geoinformation Techniques

Mallick

Khan

Ahmed

et al. 2019

Water

164

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“…Saline water dominates the earth, but the supply of fresh water has always been limited especially in the arid regions of the world. At present, "clean" fresh water scarcity is a major problem in many arid and semi-arid regions in the world, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Odhiambo, 2017). This can be considered a major constraint for sustainable development in agriculture and food production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Halotolerant Marine Rhizosphere-Competent Actinobacteria Promote Salicornia bigelovii Growth and Seed Production Using Seawater Irrigation

et al. 2020

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Salicornia bigelovii is a promising halophytic cash crop that grows in seawater of the intertidal zone of the west-north coast of the UAE. This study assess plant growth promoting (PGP) capabilities of halotolerant actinobacteria isolated from rhizosphere of S. bigelovii to be used as biological inoculants on seawater-irrigated S. bigelovii plants. Under laboratory conditions, a total of 39 actinobacterial strains were isolated, of which 22 were tolerant to high salinity (up to 8% w/v NaCl). These strains were further screened for their abilities to colonize S. bigelovii roots in vitro; the most promising ones that produced indole-3-acetic acid, polyamines (PA) or 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase (ACCD) were selected for rhizosphere-competency under naturally competitive environment. Three outstanding rhizosphere-competent isolates, Streptomyces chartreusis (Sc), S. tritolerans (St), and S. rochei (Sr) producing auxins, PA and ACCD, respectively, were investigated individually and as consortium (Sc/St/Sr) to determine their effects on the performance of S. bigelovii in the greenhouse. Individual applications of strains on seawater-irrigated plants significantly enhanced shoot and root dry biomass by 32.3-56.5% and 42.3-71.9%, respectively, in comparison to noninoculated plants (control). In addition, plants individually treated with Sc, St and Sr resulted in 46.1, 60.0, and 69.1% increase in seed yield, respectively, when compared to control plants. Thus, the synergetic combination of strains had greater effects on S. bigelovii biomass (62.2 and 77.9% increase in shoot and root dry biomass, respectively) and seed yield (79.7% increase), compared to the control treatment. Our results also showed significant (P < 0.05) increases in the levels of photosynthetic pigments, endogenous auxins and PA, but a reduction in the levels of ACC in tissues of plants inoculated with Sc/St/Sr. We conclude that the consortium of isolates was the most effective treatment on S. bigelovii growth; thus confirmed by principal component and correlation analyses. To this best of our knowledge, this is the first report about

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“…1,2 The Arabian Peninsula is a water scarce region, 3 and rainfall there is infrequent, in particular in the boreal summer season (June-August). Therefore, the summer rainfall predictability is of significant importance for the regional socio-economic sectors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ENSO relationship to summer rainfall variability and its potential predictability over Arabian Peninsula region

et al. 2018

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The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon is considered to be responsible for rainfall predictability in many regions. Some of its regional teleconnections, such as over the Arabian Peninsula in boreal summer (June-August) season, are not well studied. Therefore, in this paper, the relationship between the summer seasonal mean rainfall and ENSO is analyzed with the aid of a 15-member ensemble of simulations using the Saudi-King Abdulaziz University (KAU) Atmospheric Global Climate Model (AGCM) for the period 1981-2015. The southwestern peninsula rainfall is linked to the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies in the central-eastern pacific region. This relationship is established through an atmospheric teleconnection which shows upper-level convergence anomalies over the southern Arabian Peninsula compensating the central-eastern Pacific upper-level divergence anomalies for the warm ENSO phase, and vice-versa for the cold Phase. The upper-level convergence over the southern Arabian Peninsula leads to sinking motion, low-level divergence and consequently to reduced rainfall in the warm phase, while reverse happens in the cold phase. The correlation coefficient between the observed area-averged Niño3.4 index and a Southwestern Arabian Peninsula Rainfall Index (SARI) is −0.43 (statistically significant at 95%). Overall, model shows a potential predictability (PP) of 0.53 for the SARI region. Predictability during El Niño is higher than during La Niña events. This is not only because of a stronger signal, but also noise reduction contributes to the increase of PP in El Niño compared to that of La Niña years.

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Water scarcity in the Arabian Peninsula and socio-economic implications

Cited by 101 publications

References 15 publications

Modeling Groundwater Potential Zone in a Semi-Arid Region of Aseer Using Fuzzy-AHP and Geoinformation Techniques

Modeling Groundwater Potential Zone in a Semi-Arid Region of Aseer Using Fuzzy-AHP and Geoinformation Techniques

Halotolerant Marine Rhizosphere-Competent Actinobacteria Promote Salicornia bigelovii Growth and Seed Production Using Seawater Irrigation

ENSO relationship to summer rainfall variability and its potential predictability over Arabian Peninsula region

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