Water resources trends in Middle East and North Africa towards 2050

Droogers, P.; Immerzeel, Walter W.; Terink, W.; Hoogeveen, Johannes G.; Bierkens, Marc F. P.; Beek, L. P. H. van; Debele, B.

doi:10.5194/hess-16-3101-2012

Cited by 167 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…PCR-GLOBWB is used at a global scale for a variety of purposes: seasonal prediction, quantification of the hydrological effects of climate variability and climate change, to compare changes in terrestrial water storage with observed anomalies in the Earth's gravity field and to relate demand to water availability in the context of water scarcity (see Sperna Weiland et al, 2012;Wada et al, 2011;Droogers et al, 2012;Sperna Weiland et al, 2011).…”

Section: Pcr-globwbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of different evaporation estimates over the African continent

Trambauer

Dutra

Maskey

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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128

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Abstract. Evaporation is a key process in the water cycle with implications ranging, inter alia, from water management to weather forecast and climate change assessments. The estimation of continental evaporation fluxes is complex and typically relies on continental-scale hydrological models or land-surface models. However, it appears that most global or continental-scale hydrological models underestimate evaporative fluxes in some regions of Africa, and as a result overestimate stream flow. Other studies suggest that landsurface models may overestimate evaporative fluxes. In this study, we computed actual evaporation for the African continent using a continental version of the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB, which is based on a water balance approach. Results are compared with other independently computed evaporation products: the evaporation results from the ECMWF reanalysis ERA-Interim and ERA-Land (both based on the energy balance approach), the MOD16 evaporation product, and the GLEAM product. Three other alternative versions of the PCR-GLOBWB hydrological model were also considered. This resulted in eight products of actual evaporation, which were compared in distinct regions of the African continent spanning different climatic regimes. Annual totals, spatial patterns and seasonality were studied and compared through visual inspection and statistical methods. The comparison shows that the representation of irrigation areas has an insignificant contribution to the actual evaporation at a continental scale with a 0.5 • spatial resolution when averaged over the defined regions. The choice of meteorological forcing data has a larger effect on the evaporation results, especially in the case of the precipitation input as different precipitation input resulted in significantly different evaporation in some of the studied regions. ERA-Interim evaporation is generally the highest of the selected products followed by ERA-Land evaporation. In some regions, the satellite-based products (GLEAM and MOD16) show a different seasonal behaviour compared to the other products. The results from this study contribute to a better understanding of the suitability and the differences between products in each climatic region. Through an improved understanding of the causes of differences between these products and their uncertainty, this study provides information to improve the quality of evaporation products for the African continent and, consequently, leads to improved water resources assessments at regional scale.

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Section: Pcr-globwbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of different evaporation estimates over the African continent

Trambauer

Dutra

Maskey

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

Self Cite

128

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“…Water desalination has become a technologically and economically viable solution to tackle the challenges associated with increasing water shortages existing in many regions of the world [1,2]. Yet, desalination is an energy intensive process normally requiring high tonnage plants that utilize expensive and non-renewable fossil fuels, which in turn contribute to global warming and air pollution [3][4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy-driven desalination technologies: A comprehensive review on challenges and potential applications of integrated systems

et al. 2015

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Despite the tremendous improvements in conventional desalination technologies, its wide use is still limited due primarily to high energy requirements which are currently met with expensive fossil fuels. The use of alternative energy sources is essential to meet the growing demand for water desalination. In the last few decades a lot of effort has being directed in the use of different renewable energy (RE) sources to run desalination processes. However, the expansion of these efforts towards larger scale plants is hampered by several techno-economic challenges. Several medium-scale RE-driven desalination plants have been installed worldwide. Nevertheless, most of these plants are connected to the electrical grid to assure a continuous energy supply for stable operation. Furthermore, RE is mostly used to produce electric power which can be used to run desalination systems. This review paper focusses on an integrated approach in using RE-driven with an emphasis on solar and geothermal desalination technologies. Innovative and sustainable desalination processes which are suitable for integrated RE systems are presented. An assessment of the benefits of these technologies and their limitations are also discussed.

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“…Aquifer salinization and pollution are leading to the degradation of water resources and the situation is expected to worsen with growing populations and climate change (Qadir et al 2009;Droogers et al 2012). Additionally, challenges in coping with water demands are leading to shortages in food and energy according to recent reports by the United States Intelligence Community (USIC 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Gray Water the Key to Unlocking Water for Resource-Poor Areas of the Middle East, North Africa, and Other Arid Regions of the World?

Leas

Dare

Al-Delaimy

2013

AMBIO

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Support for the use of treated gray water as an alternative water resource in the Middle East and North Africa is high, especially given the lack of religious restrictions against its use, but several obstacles have kept application of treated gray water near 1 % in some areas. The largest of obstacles include the cost of treatment and the ambiguity surrounding the health safety of gray water and treated gray water. This paper aims to provide an overview of current gray water practices globally, with specific focus on household-level gray water practices in the Middle East and North Africa region, and highlight the need for cost reduction strategies and epidemiological evidence on the use of household-level gray water and treated gray water. Such actions are likely to increase the application of treated gray water in water-deprived areas of the Middle East and North Africa.

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Water resources trends in Middle East and North Africa towards 2050

Cited by 167 publications

References 36 publications

Comparison of different evaporation estimates over the African continent

Comparison of different evaporation estimates over the African continent

Renewable energy-driven desalination technologies: A comprehensive review on challenges and potential applications of integrated systems

Is Gray Water the Key to Unlocking Water for Resource-Poor Areas of the Middle East, North Africa, and Other Arid Regions of the World?

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