Validity of Existing Rain Water Harvesting Dams within Part of Western Desert, Iraq
- 1 Department of Geology, College of Science, University of Baghdad, Iraq
- 2 Department of Geology, College of Science, University of Baghdad, Iraq
- 3 Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden
Abstract
The study area is located within the western part of Iraq between Latitude (32 ° 45'0'' - 34 ° 0'0'') North and longitude (39 ° 30'0'' - 40 ° 45'0'') East within Anbar Governorate. It covers an area of 4767.423 Km 2 with elevation ranges from 360 to 840 m. The general slope decreases from southwest to northeast. Five old dams identified in the study area. The results of SWAT model showed high curve number (70 - 85) indicating low filtration and runoff rate (1.2 - 8.2) mm for the period (1994-2014). These dams have catchment areas ranged between (118.03 - 673.41) km 2 . They were to be used for agricultural purposes. The results according to the Food, Agriculture Organization (FAO) standards for their distance from agricultural areas using a GIS showed that all are not suitable except dam number (1). The distance to roads showed that dams (1, 4) are highly suitable, (2, 3) are low suitable and dam (5) is not suitable. The average annual quantity of rain water that can be harvested from the 5 dams is about 12.9 million cubic meters.
- Al-Ansari, N. (2019) Hydro Geopolitics of the Tigris and Euphrates. In: Mustafa, Y., Sadkhan, S., Zebari, S. and Jacksi, K., Eds., Recent Researches in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Springer, Cham, 35-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18641-8_4
- Al-Ansari, N.A., Ali, A. and Knutsson, S. (2014) Present Conditions and Future Challenges of Water Resources Problems in Iraq. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 6, 1066-1098. https://doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2014.612102
- Zakaria, S., Al-Ansari, N.A., Dawood, A.H. and Knutssson, S. (2014) Future Prospects for Macro Rainwater Harvesting Technique at Northwest Iraq. Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering, 4, 1-16.
- Al-Sheikh, A.A. (2006) Harvesting Rainwater and Floods and Its Importance to Water Resources Saudi Arabia. 2nd International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environment, Riyadh.
- Ziadat, F.M., Mazahreh, S.S., Oweis, T.Y. and Bruggem, A. (2006) A GIS Based Approach for Assessing Water Harvesting Suitability in a Badia Benchmark Watershed in Jordan. 14th International Soil Conservation Organization Conference: Water Management and Soil Conservation in Semi-Arid Environments, Marrakech, Morocco, 14-16 May 2006.
- Malczewski, J. (2004) GIS Based Land Use Suitability Analysis: A Critical Overview. Progress in Planning, 26, 3-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2003.09.002
- Al-Adamat, R., Al-Ayyash, S., Al-Amoush, H., Al-Meshan, O., Rawajfih, Z., Shdeifat, A. and Al-Farajat, M. (2012) The Combination of Indigenous Knowledge and Geo-Informatics for Water Harvesting Sitting in the Jordanian Badia. Journal of Geographic Information System, 4, 366-376. https://doi.org/10.4236/jgis.2012.44042
- Al-Abadi, A.M. (2012) Hydrological and Hydro Geological of Analysis of Northeastern Missan Governorate, South of Iraq Using Geographic Information System. College of Science, Baghdad University, Baghdad.
- Sissakian, V.K. and Mohammed, B.S. (2007) Stratigraphy of the Iraqi Western Desert. Geology of Iraqi Western Desert, 51-124.
- Balasubramanian, A. (2017) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) IN GIS. Centre for Advanced Studies in Earth Science, University of Mysore, Mysore. https://www.slideshare.net/bala1957/digital-elevation-model-in-gis
- Adham, A., Riksen, M., Ouessar, M. and Ritsema, C. (2016) Identification of Suitable Sites for Rain Water Harvesting Structures in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions, a Review. International Soil and Water Conservation Research, 4, 108-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2016.03.001