Using environmental flows to inform integrated water resource management in critically water scarce regions

Abstract

Environmental flows (e‐flows) assessments are a powerful mechanism for enhancing and conserving the ecosystem goods and services rivers provide while allocating water to essential human use. There is a paucity of e‐flows assessments and implementation in water scarce regions such as the Middle East, where limited freshwater resources are under extreme pressure. We conducted a first e‐flows assessment of the Mujib River, a vitally important freshwater resource for biodiversity and people in Jordan. We employed a holistic approach based on the building block method (BBM), using expert knowledge, assessment and integration of the hydrology, hydraulics, fish, macroinvertebrates, vegetation, habitat integrity and benthic diatoms of the Mujib River to perform an e‐flows determination. Several significant threats to its ecology and fresh water supply were identified. The most significant was the absence of flooding and abstraction associated with upstream impoundments, as well as reliance on over‐exploited and severely pressured groundwater‐maintained flows. Overall, this paper presents the first e‐flows assessment for the Mujib River in Jordan, a vital step towards improved water resource monitoring and management in water scarce regions, and serves to highlight the urgent global need for e‐flows to preserve our critical freshwater systems.