Water in the Middle East and in North Africa: Resources, Protection and Management

ISBN-13: 9783642058622 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 369 str.

Fathi Zereini; Wolfgang Jaeschke

Opis

Freshwater is the most precious and valuable natural resource essential for all kind of life on the land surface. Especially man depend on the availability and quality of the water, it is vital for the socio-economic growth of societies and nations as well as for the sustainability of the environment. Freshwater resources are not distrib uted in an equal way over the continents. Regions with surplus facing areas with shortage or even lack of water. From their nature arid and semi-arid areas are char acterized by scarcity of water with all the affiliated unfavourable attributes. In the Middle East this lack of sufficient water coupled with the high growth rates of pop ulation constitutes serious water problems which has become e real political issue. The German-Arabic Society for Environmental Studies, Frankfurt, in co-opera tion with the Centre for Environmental Studies at the University Frankfurt has raised up this problems for a scientific discussion. With the Symposium on "Water of the Middle East and North Africa: Resources, Protection and Management" in Frankfurt on November 25 and 26, 2002 a platform was created, which enabled participants - scientists and politicians - from twelve countries to discuss the water problems facing the region. It was the intension of the organisers to deepen the knowledge about the hydrologic regimes, to increase our understanding of the complex integrated processes and to draw the necessary conclusions with regard to an integrated sustainable water management."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This book is one of the few so far dealing with the very 'hot' topic of water resources in one of the most densely populated drought-prone areas of the world - already a source of tension and political conflict. ... the technical quality of the book is fine and authors and editors have been attentive to the layout of graphics and tables, making these easy to read. ... It is to the merit of the editors to have provided the community with this overview ... ." (Environmental Geology, Vol. 46 (8), 2004)

"The Middle East has water problems caused by the scarcity of water coupled with the high growth rates of population. ... This book presents a comprehensive overview of the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa. The water problem is described and discussed in four main chapters and different case studies, contributed by 39 scientists. ... the book addresses experts as well as the interested public." (Tom Van Nieuwerburgh, International Journal of Environment and Pollution, Vol. 28 (1-2), 2006)

Spis treści

1 Water Resources.- 1.1 Natural Scarcity of Water Resources in the Semi-arid and Arid Middle East and its Economical Implications.- 1.2 Exploitation of Fossil Aquifers and Future Water Supplies in the Middle East.- 1.3 Hydrogeological Investigations in the North-Eastern Dead Sea area, Suweimeh, Jordan.- 1.4 The Jordan River: Natural Flow and Current Consumption by the Riparian Countries.- 1.5 Hydrology and management of Lake Kinneret aimed at water quality protection.- 1.6 The Water Crisis in the E. Mediterranean — and Relation to Global Warming?.- 1.7 Surface Water in Jenin Governorate-Palestine.- 1.8 Herodion-Beit Fajjar well field of high quality and resource-productivity groundwater endangered by severe over-pumpage.- 1.9 Water Resources, Protection and Management in Palestine.- 1.10 The role of transient flow and drainage on regional groundwater flow pattern in semi-arid and arid climates.- 1.11 Why no Middle East water wars: global solutions to local deficits?.- 2 Water Protection.- 2.1 Management, protection and sustainable use of groundwater — results of long-term technical co-operation in the Middle East.- 2.2 Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping in the Arab Region.- 2.3 Intermittent Water Supply and Domestic Water Quality in the Middle East.- 2.4 Sewage water treatments and reuse in Israel.- 2.5 Integrated Wastewater Concepts for Olive Mills in the West Bank, Palestine.- 2.6 Distribution Pattern of some inorganic pollutants in groundwater and soil of a sewage farm at NE-Cairo/Egypt.- 3 Water Management.- 3.1 Water Utilization in Semi-Arid Zone, The Hula Valley (Israel): Pollutant removal, agriculture and Ecotourism Management.- 3.2 Regionalization of hydrogeological Data for use in groundwater modelling: Application to “Insel Hengsen” and at northern Algeria.- 3.3 Water Resources Management in Palestine: Political, technical and financial obstacles.- 3.4 Conceptual and numerical flow models of the Western Aquifer — Palestine / Israel.- 3.5 Ecosan — Introduction of Closed-Loop Approaches in Wastewater Management and Sanitation — A Supra-Regional GTZ — Project.- 3.6 IMPETUSWest Africa An integrated approach to the efficient management of scarce water resources in West Africa — Case studies for selected river catchments in different climatic zones.- 3.7 Capacity Building in Water Management in Palestine — Experience of InWEnt Palestinian Water Sector Training programme (1995–2000).- 3.8 Efficient groundwater-management for organizations with a small financial budget — the continuous improvement method.- 4 Water as Source of Conflict.- 4.1 Water conflict and water management in the Middle East.- 4.2 Syria and Turkey in Water Diplomacy (1962–2003).- 4.3 Water Issue Among the Riparian States of Euphrates and Tigris Transboundary Rivers.- 4.4 Control, Allocation and Consumption of Water Resources in the Jordan Basin: The Struggle over a Scarce and Vital Resource in the Context of the Middle East Conflict.- 4.5 Water Conflicts in the Middle East: The Twin Rivers Orontes and Litani.