Evaluation water scarcity based on GIS estimation and climate-change effects: A case study of Thi-Qar Governorate, Iraq
2022 (English)In: Cogent Engineering, E-ISSN 2331-1916, Vol. 9, no 1, article id 2075301Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
This work aims to evaluate water scarcity in Thi-Qar governorate, Iraq, based on GIS estimation, environmental data, climate-change effects, and detection of the changes in marshes over the last three decades (1991–2021). The methodology process included collecting and analysing the related data sets such as water quality indicators, surface water quantity, climatic data, and Landsat’s images. GIS-based data and spatial data were acquired from the USGS website. Arc GIS 10.4.1 software was used to create a hydrological analysis. The results showed that generally, in Iraq, the annual volume of water available per person is 1,390.95 m3/cap/year, which is lower than the threshold for water scarcity (1700 m3/cap/year). The average daily potable water per person in Thi-Qar governorate was 284 L/cap/day, lower than the general average daily potable water per person of Iraq (340 L/cap/day). Meanwhile, 6% of the months along 1998–2018 did not meet the water demands. Water quality tests exhibited some high amounts of pollutants in drinking water, e.g., biological pollution was recorded in 55% of the total number of annual samples. Landsat’s images illustrated a high variation in water areas of marshes over the selected period, whereas the highest marshes area was 1548.21 km2 in 1991 compared to the lowest area, 65.45 km2 found in 1999. To sum up, the research outcomes revealed that the study area faced a serious water scarcity, which had a negative impact on the local people. Also, this research offered a scientific view for the decision-makers to mitigate and manage the water scarcity problem.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2022. Vol. 9, no 1, article id 2075301
Keywords [en]
Climate change, GIS, Landsat, water quality, water scarcity
National Category
Water Engineering Signal Processing
Research subject
Soil Mechanics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-91034DOI: 10.1080/23311916.2022.2075301ISI: 000802338000001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85131133007OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-91034DiVA, id: diva2:1665136
Funder
Luleå University of Technology, 184940
Note
Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-06-07 (joosat);
2022-06-072022-06-072023-09-05Bibliographically approved