Suitable Site Selection for Rainwater Harvesting and Storage Case Study Using Dohuk Governorate

Abstract

The Middle East is an inherently dry zone. It has experienced severe drought for the last seven years, and climate change has made the situation worse. The Dohuk governorate has been suffering from an appalling water crisis. One possible way of relieving this water crisis is by properly harvesting the rainwater. Rainwater harvesting is a widely used method of storing rainwater in the countries presenting with drought characteristics. Several pieces of research have derived and developed different criteria and techniques to select suitable sites for harvesting rainwater. The main aim of this research was to identify and select suitable sites for the potential erection of dams, as well as to derive a model builder in ArcMap 10.4.1. The model combined several parameters, such as slope, runoff potential, land cover/use, stream order, soil quality, and hydrology to determine the suitability of the site for harvesting rainwater. To compute the land use/cover categories, the study depended on Landsat image data from 2018. Supervised classification was applied using the ENVI 5 software, while the slope mapping and drainage order were extracted using a digital elevation model. Inverse distance weighting (IDW) was used for the spatial interpolation of the rain data. The results demonstrated that suitable areas for water harvesting, are located in the middle and northern part of the research area, and in intensively cultivated zones. The main soil texture in these suitable sites was loam, while the rainfall rate amounted to 750 to 900 mm. This research shows that 15% and 13% of the area studied can be categorized as having excellent and good suitability for water harvesting, respectively. Furthermore, 21% and 27% of the area studied were of moderate and poor suitability, while the remaining 24% were not suitable at all.

Making Rainwater Harvesting a Key Solution for Water Management: The Universality of the Kilimanjaro Concept

“…Typical contaminants occurring in rainwater, and the factors influencing rainwater quality are discussed in detail in earlier papers [46,47]. In summary, depending on roof materials, land use, climatic factors and storage conditions, rainwater may contain contaminants such as trace metals, pathogenic organisms, and physical objects (e.g., leaves, bird and animal droppings) [31,32,[46][47][48]. Thus preliminary analysis and subsequent treatment using low-cost methods may need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.…”

“…Thus preliminary analysis and subsequent treatment using low-cost methods may need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Recently, some studies have investigated the following: (i) surface treatments for enhancing rainwater harvesting [30], (ii) site selection for rainwater harvesting and subsequent storage systems [32], and (iii) the effects of climate change and variability on urban rainwater harvesting systems [33]. These recent studies provide critical information for the implementation of the Kilimanjaro Concept.…”

“…Locally infiltrating rainwater prevents salt intrusion in coastal areas, and deeper groundwater drawdown and depletion, which are the most widely reported adverse impacts of excessive groundwater abstraction [9,28,29]. Additionally, compared to surface runoff in rivers and streams, locally infiltrated rainwater is less likely to come in contact with agriculture and industry-related pollution, mainly where agricultural and industrial wastewaters are not treated before discharge into the environment [30][31][32][33].…”

A Framework for Measuring Urban Sustainability in an Emerging Region: The City of Duhok as a Case Study

“…According to Duhok's Environment Protection Department, Duhok City has been more toxic than ever due to the 2000 registered power generators [55]. In addition, Eklund and Seaquist showed that there is a significant decline in rainy season in the city due to the changes in climatic conditions [56]. During the hydrological years 2006-2009, the accumulated rainfall dropped to almost 50% below the 2000-2010 total average of 368 mm [57].…”

Land use Change on Storm-Water Characteristics of a Watershed in Northeast India

“…Limited studies conducted on the influence of rainwater harvesting techniques on runoff and infiltration pattern suggested that itis a widely used groundwater recharge method by storing rainwater in the countries suffered with drought characteristics [16][17].…”