Assessment and Management of Water Resources in Developing, Semi-arid and Arid Regions (original) (raw)
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Water management in arid and semi-arid regions: interdisciplinary perspectives
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Water resources use in the West African region plays an essential role in the daily lives of communities. Being a region that spans across different ecozones, access to water and scarcity recurrence in some places are common. In the process, the extent of imbalance in the distribution patterns continues to fuel water insecurity and hydrological stress in the Sahel portion. This contrasts deeply with the abundance in the coastal lower South along the Gulf of Guinea. In as much as the current policy did little to ensure continual access in the zone over the years, water allotment across sectors like agriculture, industry and domestic households are on the uptick compared to the others. Even as access to potable water resources dropped in some places, meeting the stipulated global thresholds on water quality under the Millennium Development Agenda remains elusive in some of the nations. With that has come widespread pollution, degradation, depletion of the resource, limited rainfall, and the menace of drought. Hence, the problem is further compounded by several ecological (physical), and socioeconomic elements located within the larger regional hydrology. This includes the changing climatic parameters, ineffective policy, rising demands, and lack of monitoring. Notwithstanding these challenges, very little has been done in the literature to analyze the issues in water resources use across the study area using the mix scale model. For that, this paper will fill that void by focusing on the challenges in a select group of countries in West Africa. Emphasis is on the issues, trends, impacts, and factors. For the purposes of analysis, the paper uses mix scale methods connected to the techniques of GIS and descriptive statistics. In applying the techniques, the results show widespread use of water and changes, the appearance of degradation, pollution, and water stress due to a set of socioeconomic and physical elements. To remedy the situation, the paper proffered some solutions ranging from the education of the public on water use, the enactment of efficient policy, periodic monitoring, and the design of a regional water management information system.
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Water scarcity issues are a cause for serious concern in arid and semi-arid regions and existing water shortages are predicted to escalate in both frequency and duration over the next century (UNEP, 2003). Global water consumption grew sixfold between 1900 and 1995, more than double the rate of population growth, and continues to rise with growing farming, industry, and domestic demand. By 2025, the number of countries qualifying as water scarce is anticipated to rise to 35 (from 20 in 1990). Given that water provides one of the most important life-support functions, ensuring food security through agricultural production and enabling the existence of all ecosystems, the allocation of scarce surface and groundwater resources in an efficient manner is of paramount importance. The significance of groundwater resources should not be underestimated as this resource represents around 90% of the world's readily available freshwater resources and some 1.5 billion people depend upon it for drinking water. In addition to the quantitative shortages of water resulting from demand and supply imbalances, water scarcity in arid and semiarid regions is further exacerbated by deteriorating water quality caused by point and non-point source pollution. In Europe, industry accounts for 54% of total water consumption, agricultural water use accounts for about 33%, while 13% is used for domestic purposes. The driving forces of water demand are strongly linked with national and international social and economic policies, and additional forces of water shortages are due to natural variability in water
Science of The Total Environment, 2017
Semi-arid regions are facing the challenge of managing water resources under conditions of increasing scarcity and drought. These are recently pressured by the impact of climate change favoring the shifting from using surface water to groundwater without taking sustainability issues into account. Likewise, water scarcity raises the competition for water among users, increasing the risk of social conflicts, as the availability of fresh water in sufficient quality and quantity is already one of the major factors limiting socioeconomic development. In terms of hydrology, semi-arid regions are characterized by very complex hydro-and hydrogeological systems. The complexity of the water cycle contrasts strongly with the poor data availability, (1) which limits the number of analysis techniques and methods available to researchers, (2) limits the accuracy of models and predictions, and (3) consequently challenges the capabilities to develop appropriate management measures to mitigate or adapt the environment to scarcity and drought conditions. Integrated water resources management is a holistic approach to focus on both environmental as well as on socioeconomic factors influencing water availability and supply. The management approaches and solutions adopted, e.g. in form of decision support for specific water resources systems, are often highly specific for individual case studies.
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Assessment of water scarcity and its impacts on sustainable development in Awash basin, Ethiopia
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Equitable access and rational use of water resources is important to cope with water scarcity. The optimal allocation of limited water resources for various purposes is required for sustainable development. Awash river basin is one of the most utilized river basins in Ethiopia. There is increasing demand for water due to recent population growth in the basin because of Urbanization. Excessive water abstraction without properly assessing the available water resources in the basin contributes to water scarcity. The basin exhibits two extreme hydrological events, flooding and drought at different seasons of the year. This paper mainly focuses on surface water resources assessment of the Awash basin, and the temporal gap between water supply and demand. The paper also discusses the impacts of these gaps on sustainable development and suggested few recommendations to minimize it. Using SWAT model, the annual average surface water available is estimated around 4.64 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) as compared to the estimated demand of about 4.67 BCM in the basin for 1980-2012. This shows that on an average, the demand exceeds the availability by 0.03 BCM during the study period. Seasonal water deficit is even serious. A detailed seasonal analysis for the last 2 years (2011-2012) shows that the demand exceeds supply by 1.27 and 2.82 BCM during December-April of 2011 and 2012, respectively. However, there is a surplus supply of 1.67 and 3.16 BCM during June-September months of the same year.
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