Article: Evaluation and assessment of water budget in the eastern aquifer basin of the West Bank, Palestine Journal: International Journal of Global Environmental Issues (IJGENVI) 2017 Vol.16 No.1/2/3 pp.17 - 28 Abstract: The study is mainly intended to assess and evaluate the water budget in the eastern basin at 1 km resolution, through a comprehensive model of the eastern aquifer by estimating the evapotranspiration (evaporation and transpiration), surface runoff and groundwater recharge in the targeted aquifer for the period (1950-2000). A spatial modelling approach and geographical information systems (ArcGIS) specialist was used to evaluate and estimate the water budget for the 50 years period (1950-2000). Hydro-meteorological data for the 50 years period were used to drive precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, evapotranspiration, runoff spatial grids, and ground water recharge along with an summed minor losses were integrated by GIS spatial interpolation. The results of this study show that the average annual ground water recharge for the 50 years period in the study area is almost 200 millions of cubic metres (MCM) per year. A variation was found in the recharge values from the eastern slopes till the central highlands in the West Bank, this variation is due to the variation in temperature and precipitation in the targeted area. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Evaluation and assessment of water budget in the eastern aquifer basin of the West Bank, Palestine

Authors: Fadi Dweik; Mahmoud Rahil; Mhd. Suhyb Salama

Addresses: Applied Research Institute, Jerusalem, Palestine ' Palestine Technical University, Kadoorie, Palestine ' University of Twente/ITC, The Netherlands

Abstract: The study is mainly intended to assess and evaluate the water budget in the eastern basin at 1 km resolution, through a comprehensive model of the eastern aquifer by estimating the evapotranspiration (evaporation and transpiration), surface runoff and groundwater recharge in the targeted aquifer for the period (1950-2000). A spatial modelling approach and geographical information systems (ArcGIS) specialist was used to evaluate and estimate the water budget for the 50 years period (1950-2000). Hydro-meteorological data for the 50 years period were used to drive precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, evapotranspiration, runoff spatial grids, and ground water recharge along with an summed minor losses were integrated by GIS spatial interpolation. The results of this study show that the average annual ground water recharge for the 50 years period in the study area is almost 200 millions of cubic metres (MCM) per year. A variation was found in the recharge values from the eastern slopes till the central highlands in the West Bank, this variation is due to the variation in temperature and precipitation in the targeted area.

Keywords: water budget; eastern aquifer; West Bank; Palestine; evapotranspiration; evaporation; transpiration; surface runoff; groundwater recharge; spatial modelling; GIS; geographic information systems; spatial interpolation; temperature variation; precipitation variation; rainfall variation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2017.083427

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2017 Vol.16 No.1/2/3, pp.17 - 28

Received: 06 Aug 2016
Accepted: 03 Sep 2016
Published online: 29 Mar 2017 *

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Title: Evaluation and assessment of water budget in the eastern aquifer basin of the West Bank, Palestine

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