Influence of Population Growth on Supply, Demand, and Quality Issues of Water Resources in the Yarmouk River Basin in Jordan

This study was carried out to investigate the influence of population growth on supply, demand, and quality issues of water resources in the Yarmouk River Basin in Jordan for twenty years. The population growth data for the years 1997 and 2017 was derived from four Jordan governorates, i.e., Mafraq, Irbid, Jerash, and Ajloun, as well as for the population of the Yarmouk Basin was calculated, where a part of the population of these governorates resides within Basin. The water supply and the number of wells were also determined during this study. Various physicochemical parameters of water, like pH, EC, TDS, DO, NO2, and NO3, were also evaluated. Water supply, demand, and quality issues were also identified in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. The study showed an increase in the Kingdom's population in four governorates from about 1.27 to 2.88 million inhabitants, while the population of four governorates in the Yarmouk Basin increased from about 639,992 to 1.53 million inhabitants, and it is more than doubling. Comparing the population with the water supply, the numbers of wells and their uses showed significant changes, as evidenced by the substantial increase in the water supply. The studied physiochemical parameters were within the permissible limits of the National Standards. The critical water issues reported in the study area are difficulties in law enforcement and rapid population growth, which interactively affect the water supply. The study's findings will assist decision-makers in managing future water supplies as they face challenges in securing additional water, and there is an urgent need for research and future scenarios to meet water needs

Impact of Land Use/Cover Changes on the Flow of the Zarqa River in Jordan

This paper investigated the impact of land use/cover changes on the flow of the Zarqa River in Jordan over a period of twenty-eight years. The land use/cover maps were derived using a set of medium spatial images with full scenes for the years 1989, 2002, 2011 and 2017. These images correspond to the river flow data for the same hydrological rainy seasons. The component of the river flow consists of the base-flow, flood and contribution of effluent from treatment plants. Base-flow was separated from hydrographs and effluent contribution was obtained. Runoff coefficient was determined as the ratio of flood volume to rainfall volume. The land use/cover maps were classified as urban fabrics, bare rocks, open rangelands and bare soils, agricultural areas, agro-forestry, and water bodies. During the study period, urban areas increased from 4.87% to 16.14%, and agricultural areas increased from 21.69% to 31.66%. The areas of rangelands and bare soil decreased from 34.91% to 22.57% and bare rocks from 35.98% to 27.57%, respectively. The increase in urban and agricultural areas resulted in runoff coefficient improvement from 1.89% in 1989/1990 to 2.72% for 2016/2017. The results could be useful for planners and decision makers for future flow management in the Zarqa River Basin. The approach and results of this study confirm the findings of similar studies for land and water management

Impact of climate change on water resources in Jordan: a case study of Azraq basin

Abstract Azraq basin is one of the most important groundwater basins in Jordan. Trend analysis using RClimDex for six rainfall stations and two metrological stations was performed to detect and predict climate change impacts on the Azraq basin until the year 2030. Three absolute homogeneity tests were used to detect any variation in the data time series. The results showed that monthly max value of daily mean temp, tropical night, monthly maximum value of daily maximum temp, monthly maximum value of daily minimum temp and cool days were found to be statistically significant climate change indices. The trend of the max temperature during July is significant, while insignificant trend for the minimum temperature in the same month was noticed. The frequency of days in which the maximum temperature exceeded 38 °C increased and there was increase in the minimum temperature count of values that are exceeding 20 °C in the last 46 years. Regarding the rainfall, there is no change in total annual precipitation over the study area during the studied period. The results of simulating climate change impact into the evaporation showed expected increase by 4.74 and 5.32% for Al Butum and El Janab wadis, respectively, during the period of 2013–2030. Streamflow analysis showed slight decrease by 1.51 and 1.02% for both wadis, respectively