Management of Water Demand in GCC using GIS

Abstract

Water shortages and the degradation of water supplies threaten the development activities and health of people in many parts of the world. This is particularly true in GCC countries that are experiencing rapid population and development growth but have limited water resources and poor water resources management. GCC (Gulf Councel Countrie ) 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. This work contributed to a low efficiency of water use and waste of it, and water prices are often well below levels needed to cover the costs of the system. Moreover, this contributes to a worse quality of water, and, as quality of water decrease, the management of water resources becomes more challenging and the need to integrate water quality into an overall water resources management grows. The main goal of this paper is showing, how Geographical Information Systems (GIS ) can be used to support infrastructure planners and analyst on water demand of a local area in GCC,  they are (Saudi Arabia ,Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman  and UAE). The results indicated an increase of about 110%, 135%, 139% and 281% in water demand due to future development in, agriculture, forestry, amenity and domestic sectors respectively.

Keywords: GIS, Water Resources Management, Water Demand Centers, Water Supply Sources, Groundwater Management, ArcGIS , GCC