Determination of Water Demand Management in GCC Using GIS

Abstract

Arab GCC((Gulf Corporation Councel) is facing potential water shortages. The alarming increase in the scarcity of water in various parts of the world. Water is a main issue in many countries especially in those GCC, it has focused a global attention on the need for a stronger and more appropriate water resource management and availability solutions. imperative for nations to come up with more focused and direct measures that would address and stem this resource scarcity. Water sustainability needs a balance between demand and availability. The main objective of this paper is the application of these concepts to Arabs countries. Water demand management is about achieving a reduction in the use of water resources, normally through increased efficiency of water application. The management of water resources was not explicitly included in the past from thirty-five years in all most of those countries normative system partly because water was believed to be a free good in mind, and was not accepted to have a price to pay to use it. The main goal of this paper is showing, how Geographical Information Systems (GIS ) using ESRI (Environmental System Research Institute)  or ArcGIS 10.2 product , can be used to support infrastructure planners and analyst on water demand of a local area in GCC

(Gulf Corporation Councel ) they are (Saudi Arabia ,Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman  and UAE).

Keywords: GIS, Water in land, Water area, XML Schema ESRI, ArcGIS ,GCC , DIVA-GIS