Simulation of water resources management scenarios in western Algeria watersheds using WEAP model
- PDF / 623,741 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 15 Downloads / 174 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Simulation of water resources management scenarios in western Algeria watersheds using WEAP model Abdelkader Hamlat & Mohamed Errih & Azeddine Guidoum
Received: 21 October 2011 / Accepted: 8 February 2012 / Published online: 3 March 2012 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2012
Abstract The question of water constitutes a permanent challenge for the countries of North Africa in general and Algeria in particular. For over 20 years, western Algeria region had significant rainfall deficits that resulted in severe droughts, which seriously affected the water resources in terms of quality and quantity. This research presents one of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model applications in watersheds of western Algeria. The model is applied to evaluate and analyze the existing balance and expected future water resources management scenarios by taking into account the different operating policies and factors that may affect demand until 2030. The results showed that neither domestic demand nor agricultural demand is met for the basis year 2006. The results also showed that domestic demand can be satisfied for the considered scenarios. Demand management and development of standard of living are the necessary procedures for proper management of the available resources. However, agricultural demand cannot be satisfied for Development of Large Irrigation System scenarios. The results confirmed that WEAP software offers a solid basis to assist planners in developing recommendations for future water resource management by revealing hot spots of action. A. Hamlat (*) : A. Guidoum Civil Engineering Department, University of Laghouat, P.O.Box:37G, Road of Ghardaïa, Laghouat, Algeria e-mail: [email protected] A. Guidoum e-mail: [email protected] M. Errih University of Oran, P.O. Box 1505, El-Mnaouer, Oran 31000, Algeria e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords Balance . Scenario . Water resources management . WEAP model . Western Algeria
Introduction Water is a precious natural resource, vital for life, development, and the environment. It can be a matter of life and death, depending on how it occurs and how it is managed. The United Nations estimates that by 2025, nearly one third of the World’s population will suffer from chronic water shortage if current rate of consumption continues (Shinde 2005). During the last decade, the problems of the climatic changes were recognized like one of the major problems of the development on a local and regional scale to see even on an international scale. The question of water constitutes a permanent challenge for the countries of West Africa in general and Algeria in particular (Khaldi 2005). According to ECA, AU, and AfDB (2000), the lowest precipitation occurs in the northern countries of Africa where the average annual rainfall is only 71.4 mm. This reduction in precipitation is associated with the considerable increase in the temperature during the two last decades influenced by its space width, its intensity, and by its major impact on the reduction in the water resour
Data Loading...
