The Nile delta's water and salt balances and implications for management

Molle, François; Gaafar, Ibrahim; El-Agha, Doaa E.; Rap, Edwin

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2017.11.016

Cited by 54 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…This value does not account for the high degree of reuse of drainage flow. As stated by Molle et al [15], the overall irrigation efficiency could reach up to 93% in some regions, such as the Nile Delta, when considering the drainage water-reuse. Generally, the recycling agricultural return flow is determined as the effective water-saving technology to enhance the irrigation efficiency [98,99].…”

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confidence: 94%

“…In Egypt, the agricultural drainage water goes back into the system by pumping it to the main canals. However, around 25% (officially and unofficially) has relatively good water quality and is used once again for irrigation, which is considered to be an integral addition to water sources, while the remaining water is delivered to the Mediterranean Sea and/or the Northern lakes [15,97]. Furthermore, the continuous expansion of the usage of the covered drains contributes to the high overall efficiency by reducing water losses resulting from evaporation, leakage of waterways, and excess irrigation water [80,86].…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Performance of Satellite-Based Actual Evapotranspiration Products and the Assessment of Irrigation Efficiency in Egypt

Ayyad

Zayed

et al. 2019

Water

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Monitoring of crop water consumption, also known as actual evapotranspiration (ETa), is crucial for the prudent use of limited freshwater resources. Remote-sensing-based algorithms have become a popular approach for providing spatio-temporal information on ETa. Satellite-based ETa products are widely available. However, identifying an adequate product remains a challenge due to validation data scarcity. This study developed an assessment process to identify superior ETa products in agricultural areas in Egypt. The land cover product (MCD12Q1) from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was evaluated and used to detect agricultural areas. The performances of three ETa products, namely: Earth Engine Evapotranspiration Flux (EEFlux), USGS-FEWS NET SSEBop ETa monthly product, and MODIS ETa monthly product (MOD16A2), were evaluated. The ETa values of these products were compared to previous ETa observations and evaluated using the integrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (iNDVI) on a seasonal and annual basis. Finally, the irrigation efficiency throughout Egypt was calculated based on the annual Relative Water Supply (RWS) index. Results reveal that the SSEBop monthly product has the best performance in Egypt, followed by the MOD16A2. The EEFlux overestimated ETa values by 36%. RWS had a range of 0.96–1.47, indicating high irrigation efficiency. The findings reported herein can assist in improving irrigation water management in Egypt and the Nile Basin.

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confidence: 94%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Performance of Satellite-Based Actual Evapotranspiration Products and the Assessment of Irrigation Efficiency in Egypt

Ayyad

Zayed

et al. 2019

Water

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“…Hot spots of surface water salinization include the Mesopotamian Marshes (Al‐Mudaffar Fawzi et al, 2016), Shatt al‐Arab River (Al‐Mudaffar Fawzi & Mahdi, 2014), Jordan Valley (Farber et al, 2005), and increasingly the Nile basin (Multsch, Alquwaizany et al, 2017). In addition, groundwater salinization due to overexploitation affects the coastal aquifer in Gaza (Dentoni et al, 2015), the Wadi Ham in the UAE (Sherif et al, 2012), the Nile Delta (Molle et al, 2018; Sefelnasr & Sherif, 2014), and the Sfax aquifer in Tunisia (Trabelsi et al, 2016), among others. The groundwater salinity situation is particularly dire in the Comoros Islands, where fewer than 30% of wells provide water of acceptable drinking water quality (Comte et al, 2016).…”

Section: Water Issues Facing the Arab Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling the Trickle: Ensuring Sustainable Water Management in the Arab Region

et al. 2020

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Water scarcity in the Arab region is intensifying due to population growth, economic development, and the impacts of climate change. It is manifested in groundwater depletion, freshwater ecosystem degradation, deteriorating water quality, low levels of water storage per capita, and added pressures on transboundary water resources. High-income Arab countries have sought to circumvent the ever-present challenges of water scarcity through agricultural imports (virtual water trade), desalination, and, increasingly, wastewater reuse. In this review article, we argue that the narrative of water scarcity and supply-side technological fixes masks more systemic issues that threaten sustainable water management, including underperforming water utilities, protracted armed conflict and displacement, agricultural policies aimed at self-sufficiency, evolving food consumption behaviors, the future of energy markets, and educational policy. Water management challenges, particularly on the demand side, and responses in the Arab region cannot be understood in isolation from these broader regional and international political and socioeconomic trends. Recognizing the complex and interdependent challenges of water management is the first step in reforming approaches and shifting to more sustainable development outcomes and stability in the Arab region and beyond.

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“…Limited knowledge of use, reuse, and original sources of water has led to ineffective or even harmful water management decisions. Subsequent conflicts over water resources have been described extensively for larger scales, such as river basins (e.g., in [48,49]). Additionally, on smaller scales, between irrigation systems or even within one canal system, those conflicts are often based on the uncertainty of source of water and reuse (e.g., in [50,51]).…”

Section: General Implications For Water Resources Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Tracers to Detect Sources of Water and Track Water Reuse across a River Basin

Simons

Droogers²,

Contreras³

et al. 2020

Water

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Water managers around the world face the increasingly challenging task to evaluate the impacts of technological measures and policy mechanisms from the local to the river basin scale. A toolset providing quantitative, actionable information on dependencies and trade-offs between upstream and downstream water users is currently lacking. Yet, any intervention needs to be assessed in terms of consequences for downstream water users. This study evaluates the potential of a tracer-like approach, implemented in the water allocation software WEAP, to quantitatively track return flows and their downstream reuse in the river basin context. The WEAP-Virtual Tracer (WEAP-VT) approach was successfully applied to one of Europe’s driest river basins, the Segura River Basin in Spain. For each water demand site, the different original sources of water supply, dependency on upstream return flows, and downstream reuse of its return flow were assessed. Based on these results, agricultural, urban, and environmental water users were evaluated in terms of their suitability for water saving measures and their vulnerability to the reduction in upstream return flows. A scenario analysis simulating the improvement of local efficiency improvements shows that specific irrigation schemes and ecosystems become deprived of water. Hence, efficiency improvement in water-scarce basins should be considered with caution. The demonstrated ability to quantify key water reuse indicators for individual water users and at different aggregation levels makes WEAP-VT a valuable tool to support water resource management decisions.

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The Nile delta's water and salt balances and implications for management

Cited by 54 publications

References 10 publications

The Performance of Satellite-Based Actual Evapotranspiration Products and the Assessment of Irrigation Efficiency in Egypt

The Performance of Satellite-Based Actual Evapotranspiration Products and the Assessment of Irrigation Efficiency in Egypt

Tackling the Trickle: Ensuring Sustainable Water Management in the Arab Region

Virtual Tracers to Detect Sources of Water and Track Water Reuse across a River Basin

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