Water for the Future The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan (1999) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 The Study Area and Patterns of Water Use
2 The Study Area and Patterns of Water Use
Pages 24-53
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 24... ...
Many of the quantitative data presented in this report have been contributed by committee members or extracted and modified from a recent report prepared for the Multilateral Working Group on Water Resources and funded by the German Government (CES Consulting Engineers and GTZ [Association for Technical Cooperation]
|
From page 25... ...
Oasis / Gaza/~.~ ,/~ /Dead Sea /iGAZA ~~ ~,/ \STRIP J ~ Karak \ \ ISRAEL/ \ \:
|
From page 26... ...
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 29 percent live in urban areas, 65 percent live in rural communities, and 6 percent presently (1997) live in refugee camps.
|
From page 27... ...
Indeed, economic parity and growth throughout the study area are implicit goals of the various multilateral and bilateral peace negotiations. Moves toward parity will tend to increase consumption of water in Tordan and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, thereby placing additional burdens on already-strained water resources.
|
From page 28... ...
The land parts of the Rift Valley are underlain by fertile alluvial soils, but requiring irrigation to be agriculturally productive. East of the Jordan Rift Valley is an upland area whose western edge forms an escarpment rising more than 1000 meters above the valley floor and with peaks exceeding 1000 m above sea level.
|
From page 29... ...
THE STUDY AREA AND PATTERNS OF WATER USE EGYPT 29 :~ 1 1 1 8 Gulf of Aqaba~ 1 Temperate steppe-grasses on chernozem (black) and chestnut soils.
|
From page 30... ...
The average annual rainfall in the central and northern highlands west of the Jordan Rift Valley ranges from 200 to 1,000 mm and ranges in the highlands east of the valley from 200 to 600 mm. Rainfall along the Mediterranean coast ranges from 300 mm in the south to 600 mm in the north.
|
From page 31... ...
For comparison, mean annual rainfall exceeds 300 mm over about two-thirds of the land area of the United States and over most of Europe. SOURCE: Compiled from information in Salameh and Bannayan, 1993 and U.S.
|
From page 32... ...
In the winter, temperatures average about 14°C along the Mediterranean coast and about 9° C at higher altitudes; winter temperatures in the Tordan Valley often exceed 25° C during the day and can be as low as 7° C at night. Temperatures below freezing may occur in upland areas where land elevation exceeds about 500 m above sea level, but they are rare at lower altitudes.
|
From page 33... ...
the volume of annual precipitation in the part of the study area west of the Jordan Rift Valley is about 7,900 million cubic meters (million m3) , based on an average rainfall of 293 mm per year over the 27,011 km2 area.
|
From page 34... ...
The permeable limestone and dolomite aquifers that occur beneath the mountainous areas on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley permit recharge rates of up to 30 percent of precipitation. Recharge to these mountain aquifers accounts for about two-thirds of the
|
From page 35... ...
The data for Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip include 220 million m3/yr of brackish water (Table 2.4 in CES Consulting Engineers and GTZ, 1996~. These recharge values are apparently derived from sustainable average annual discharge from the aquifers, with this discharge consisting partially of brackish water pumping (virtually all the water in the Gaza Strip is brackish, because of seawater intrusion and leaching of fertilizers and other salts)
|
From page 36... ...
Because of this relationship between ground and surface water, recharge values should not necessarily be considered as independent sources of water. For example, about 175 million m3/yr of ground water discharges into Lake Kinneret/Lake Tiberias/Sea of Galilee (Table 2.2 in CES Consulting Engineers, 1996)
|
From page 37... ...
37 b6/£0/ZZ £61Z L16Z £616019Z £61901'Z £61£018Z £6/ LO/bZ Z6/0 L1'Z Z61801£Z Z619018Z Z61ZOI' L61~1Z~ 6/80/bO 6/90/80 ~ 6/£0/90 06/0 L/0£ 06/~0/~£ 06/bO/O£ ao tt 06/~0/~£ 68/0 L1 L£ 68/'O/bZ 68/bO/£Z 68/ZO/bO 88/0 L/90 881~01~£ 88/90/ZO 88/ZO/60 '81~10L 8/80/0 ~ 8/bO/O£ ~ 81ZOI'O 98/0 LI£Z 98/80/0 ~ 981£01£Z 981Z LIZZ 98/0 L/0£ o 5o ¢ 5 .
|
From page 38... ...
38 b6/ ~ 0/0 £6/0 LIZ £61'O/Z Z6/0 L19 ~ Z61901'0 L61Z L/~0 6/60/£0 619016Z ~ 61Z016 ~ 06/ ~ L/bO 06/80/'0 06/90/0£ 06/ZO/9Z 68/0 LIED 68/'0/0£ 68/£0/OZ 881~18L 88/80/80 88/bO/'Z 81Z L1 hZ 8/80/9 ~ 8/bO/9O ~ 8/ ~ O/bO 981601£Z 981901ZZ 981ZOI9Z 98/0 L/£0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 oo oo ..
|
From page 39... ...
Ground-water pumping in the Gaza Strip, for example, exceeds recharge by about 2 to 18 million m3/yr; this excess pumping represents water that is permanently removed from storage in the underlying aquifer each year. Over the past 10 years, the Disi aquifer in Jordan has been pumped at rates far exceeding its recharge rate, if it receives any recharge at all, resulting in a loss of storage expressed as a lowering of water levels by as much as 80 m.
|
From page 40... ...
Because of the sensitivity of the base flow component of streamflow to ground-water withdrawals, surface water flow (1,429 million m3/yr) and ground-water recharge rate (1,534 million m3/yr)
|
From page 41... ...
The Yarmouk River, although not impounded, is diverted, partly into Lake Kinneret/Lake Tiberias/Sea of Galilee and partly into the King Abdullah Canal. Surface water management of the Jordan River watershed through impoundments and diversions provides almost one third of the water used in the study area.
|
From page 42... ...
On the other hand, the decreased flow and the poor quality of the remaining flow have had strongly negative effects on natural flora and fauna in the lower Jordan River, and have lowered water levels in the Dead Sea. Other Sources of Water Humans have greatly affected the natural hydrologic cycle in other ways.
|
From page 43... ...
Saltwater contamination is difficult to reverse and therefore also affects sustainability. The chemical quality of surface water is determined by the quality of its two components: base flow and stormwater runoff.
|
From page 44... ...
Surface water generally requires more treatment prior to human consumption than does ground water. However, in the natural environment, plants and animals are in contact with untreated surface water, which often contains urban, agricultural, or industrial contaminants.
|
From page 45... ...
creates a cycle of increasing salination of both soil and ground water. Furthermore, the almost total elimination of natural ground water and surface water discharge effectively blocks the natural discharge of salts, so that the study area is now importing salts but not exporting them.
|
From page 46... ...
Although their definitions and methods are unclear, they estimate that annual average renewable water resources in the study area are 2,600 million m3/yr, consisting of 1,400 million m3/yr of ground water and 1,200 million m3/yr of surface water (Table 2.2~. It is not clear how the 175 million m3/yr of ground water that discharge into the upper Jordan River and Lake Kinneret/Lake Tiberias/Sea of Galilee (Table 2.2 in CES Engineers and GTZ, 1996)
|
From page 47... ...
, and the Multilateral Working Group on Water Resources (CES Consulting Engineers and GTZ, 1996, p.
|
From page 48... ...
In recognition of this, the Multilateral Working Group on Water Resources implemented a Water Data Banks Plan in 1995 to work toward common methods of collecting water data in the study area. Also needed, however, are joint study teams to provide regionally consistent meteorological and hydrological analyses, if the water resources of the study area and the consequences of various water development scenarios are to be fully assessed.
|
From page 49... ...
bThis figure is adjusted to eliminate the double counting of about 7 million m3/yr supplied to East Jerusalem and 5 million m3/yr supplied to the Gaza Strip by Israel and included in both the Israeli and the West Bank and Gaza Strip totals. CConveyance losses are reported only for the National Water Carrier in Israel.
|
From page 50... ...
As previously discussed, moves toward economic parity will tend to increase water consumption; one planning scenario projects future per capita domestic use of water at 90 m3/yr in Israel and 70 m3/yr in Jordan and the West Bank and Gaza Strip (CES Consulting Engineers and GTZ, 1996, p.
|
From page 51... ...
This need is being partially addressed by the Water Data Banks Project of the Multilateral Working Group on Water Resources of the Middle East Process, and may be further addressed by the Joint Water Committees formed as part of the Treaty of Peace between Israel and Jordan (Appendix A) and the IsraeliPalestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Appendix B)
|
From page 52... ...
CES Consulting Engineers and GTZ.
|
From page 53... ...
1996. The Water Authority of Jordan Annual Report.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.