1.1 Problem statement and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)
Current lack of comprehensive and efficient water resources management is one of the challenging problems facing semi-arid Mediterranean region in general and the occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in particular. Sharma, 1998 claimed that the real problem in semi-arid Mediterranean region is not the lack of resources but is rather the lack of an integrated water management policy in case of high pressure on water resources so as to alleviate the current dire conditions.
The concepts of water sustainability and integrated water resources management (IWRM) are poorly understood by stakeholders of water resources including planners and managers.
Moreover, there are insufficient understanding and knowledge about the actual baseline conditions in terms of priority water problems and geographical areas under water stress.
Accordingly, subjectivity is viewed as one weakness of the current water sector decision- making.
Water resources in the Mediterranean and North Africa (MENA) region are scarce. Due to the semi-arid climate in the OPT and its location in MENA, it suffers from shortage of water (Blue Plan, 2003). Annual water consumption per capita is about 73 L/d, PWA, 2010, Water Supply Report), and is expected to reach 50 L/d in the coming decade (PWA, 2010, Reforming Plan).
In terms of water quality, salinity of underground water increases gradually in years, this happens for reasons of natural hydrological system and anthropogenic activities. These activities reduced soil fertility and decreased agriculture productivity; this is due to soil salinity built up from using brackish water in irrigation. Chloride concentration and electrical conductivity (EC) in shallow aquifer wells in the CSA reach up to 1,500 mg/L and 5,000µs/cm respectively.
The overall natural water resources for Palestinians in the West Bank mostly stretch out in the mountain aquifer. Based on Israeli practice, there are three shared aquifers: the Eastern, the Western and the North-Eastern aquifers. Currently, Palestinians extract less than 15% of the estimated potential of these three aquifers. In 2010, extraction from mountain Aquifer did not exceed 98 Mm3; From which29 Mm3 from the North- Eastern Aquifer, 25 Mm3 from the
Western Aquifer and 44 MCM from the Eastern Aquifer. (Figure1.1, (PWA, Water Supply Report, 2010). These 98MCM are used in different sectors and most of this available water quantity is used in the agricultural sector.
Figure.1.1: West Bank Basins and the case study area (Auja Catchment)
In CSA, irrigated lands decreased from 8,000 donums to about 4,000 donums during the last 10 years; therefore, agricultural developing scenarios (ADS) relevant to available water resources and brackish water usages should be holding in this investigation. These scenarios should be based on agricultural lands extension according to crop salinity resistivity on the one hand using saline and brackish water and on soil profile texture and irrigation with fresh water on the other.
Previous studies (Shawahna, 2010, Sobeih, 2009) showed that the agricultural sector could be improved by integrating different water sources that are not currently used. This includes wadi runoff, brackish groundwater, and potential treated waste water. These water sources plus the plantation of crops resistant to brackish water such as date palm trees. In addition, household water supplied through water distribution systems is lost due to inefficient irrigation system in the CSA, leakage from water networks and the channel system. The loss exceeded 24% in Jericho (PWA, 2010).
The available cultivable area in the Auja area is about 30,000 donums but due to limited water resources only 3,870 donums were irrigated land in 2013 and currently 4,500 donums are irrigated (Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)/Jericho District Bureau).
The fluctuation of spring discharge and the salinization of groundwater boreholes restrict selecting suitable crops. As a result, many farmers shifted from vegetables irrigation to more tolerant crops and trees due to the increase of water salinity (up to 1,500 mg/L).
There is severe water fluctuation particularly in summer months due to low precipitation (99 mm in 2011), uneven distribution and high temperature with annual evaporation reaching 2,316 mm (2011), (Jericho Station, PMD 2011). Water resources are vulnerable to global change such as climate change and are sensitive to drought which has severe impacts on soils and sub-soils that ends up dried up, thus influencing agricultural production, food security and socio-economic aspects related to water deficit.
Increasing water quality degradation caused by land use, destruction of wetlands and ecosystems, and anthropogenic causes reduce the sustainable management of water resources.
Anthropogenic effects are caused by local and external sources. Pollution sources include urban sewage, solid waste, hazardous waste, industrial waste, overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, over-exploitation of underground (u.g) wells in the case study area has already led to many cases of irreversible saltwater intrusion. If pollution sources remain uncontrolled, it wills likely lead to further water scarcity in the area which already has a limited reserve of water.
A major factor in water problems is weakness in integration of environmental sustainability into the water sector policy making. High level water shortage is due to lack of adopting strategic environmental assessment (SEA) methods. Furthermore, the infrastructure of the existing Palestinian Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) policy, MENA, 2000 for the water sector, has limitations to address the large scale and cumulative effects of several projects.
the case study area being investigated is Auja area selected to represent the (LJV) Basin. The Auja and Fari’a area (in the north of LJV) represent the main parts of the basin. This is why Auja area has been chosen for this study.