QANATS AS AN ENDANGERED TRADITIONAL HYDRAULIC HERITAGE. AN INTEGRATED METHODOLOGY FOR DOCUMENTING, RESTORING AND REUSING AN ANCIENT IRANIAN

Qanats represented a major technological solution for water supply in arid and semi-arid regions for millennia. Thanks to their multiple social and economic benefits, qanat-like systems spread from Iran through the Middle East in most of the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. In recent years, this valuable traditional hydraulic technology has been neglected in preservation and reuse due to the lack of management as well as the lack of legal support. This precious heritage and sustainable water supply system according to their sustainable structural features has been replaced by modern water collection and management systems such as dams and other hydroelectric infrastructures along with new pumping technologies. However, there is a growing consensus on the number of short, medium and long-term issues emerging from these systems including pollution and other environmental damages, regional conflicts, political pressures as well as their limited lifetime and structural instability. The purpose of this paper is to show qanats as an example of endangered heritage which could also represent a sustainable and clean technology. To do so, we apply a multi-disciplinary perspective integrating archaeological, architectural, sociological and conservation methodologies on a specific case study from the Tabriz region in Northern Iran: the “No-Ras” qanat.

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Economic Policy and Desertification in Arid and Semi-arid Developing Countries

The Pakistan Development Review ◽

10.30541/v36i2pp.191-201 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 191-201

Author(s):

Mark Speece

Keyword(s):

Arid Regions ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Resource Utilisation ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Sustainable Resource Use ◽

Semi Arid ◽

Local Farmers

Environmental degradation in arid and semi-arid regions often results from trade-offs between immediate and long-term needs. Ecological (and ultimately economic) benefits of restrained, sustainable resource use are well-understood by scientists, and are usually apparent to local farmers and herders as well. However, immediate economic needs often conflict, and excessive exploitation of resources may be necessary to subsistence producers’ survival. Such issues are illustrated in a variety of settings. Solutions to problems containing important economic components require appropriate economic policies, as well as technical action. Long-term sustainable resource utilisation rather than short-term exploitation must be made more attractive to local producers in their daily lives.

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Lessons Learnt from Long-Term Experiments on No-Till Systems in Semi-arid Regions

No-till Farming Systems for Sustainable Agriculture ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-46409-7_24 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 415-436

Author(s):

Mahesh K. Gathala ◽

Alison M. Laing

Keyword(s):

Arid Regions ◽

No Till ◽

Lessons Learnt ◽

Long Term Experiments ◽

Semi Arid

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Extreme rainfall deficits were not the cause of recurring colonial era famines of southern Indian semi-arid regions

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-96826-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ranjini Ray ◽

Atreyee Bhattacharya ◽

Gaurav Arora ◽

Kushank Bajaj ◽

Keyle Horton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arid Regions ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Extreme Rainfall ◽

Southern India ◽

Colonial Era ◽

Regional Rainfall ◽

Semi Arid ◽

Rainfall Deficits

AbstractUsing information contained in the eighteenth to twentieth century British administrative documents, preserved in the National Archives of India (NAI), we present a 218-year (1729–1947 AD) record of socioeconomic disruptions and human impacts (famines) associated with ‘rain failures’ that affected the semi-arid regions (SARs) of southern India. By mapping the southern Indian famine record onto long-term spatiotemporal measures of regional rainfall variability, we demonstrate that the SARs of southern India repeatedly experienced famines when annual rainfall reduced by ~ one standard deviation (1 SD), or more, from long-term averages. In other words, ‘rain failures’ listed in the colonial documents as causes of extreme socioeconomic disruptions, food shortages and human distress (famines) in the southern Indian SARs were fluctuations in precipitation well within the normal range of regional rainfall variability and not extreme rainfall deficits (≥ 3 SD). Our study demonstrates that extreme climate events were not necessary conditions for extreme socioeconomic disruptions and human impacts rendered by the colonial era famines in peninsular India. Based on our findings, we suggest that climate change risk assessement should consider the potential impacts of more frequent low-level anomalies (e.g. 1 SD) in drought prone semi-arid regions.

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Determining the effect of deforestation on sustainable water supply in a semi-arid mountainous watershed by using storm water management model

International Journal of Global Warming ◽

10.1504/ijgw.2019.10017601 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 108

Author(s):

Hurem Dutal ◽

Mahmut Reis

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Supply ◽

Storm Water ◽

Management Model ◽

Storm Water Management ◽

Storm Water Management Model ◽

Sustainable Water Supply ◽

Mountainous Watershed ◽

Semi Arid

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Integration of seismic-reflection and well data to assess the potential impact of stratigraphic and structural features on sustainable water supply from the Floridan aquifer system, Broward County, Florida

Open-File Report ◽

10.3133/ofr20141136 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Kevin J. Cunningham

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Seismic Reflection ◽

Structural Features ◽

Broward County ◽

Aquifer System ◽

Floridan Aquifer ◽

Sustainable Water Supply ◽

Potential Impact ◽

Well Data

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Spatial simulation of water supply service flow in Ningxia, China

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20894 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jie Xu ◽

Gaodi Xie ◽

Yu Xiao ◽

Jingya Liu ◽

Keyu Qin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Arid Regions ◽

Yellow River ◽

Source Region ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Residual Water ◽

Semi Arid

Transregional Ecosystem Service (ES) flows are ubiquitous and are receiving more attention in an increasingly metacoupled world. Water has typical flow properties and is a common flow medium of Water-related Ecosystem Services (WES), such as water supply, water conservation, etc. Ningxia is in a transition zone from semi-arid to arid areas of the Yellow River basin of China. Its role in the water transfer from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the downstream city and agriculture is important in allocating the scarce water resources in (semi-)arid regions. This study described the water flow process to/from Ningxia and revealed the supply-demand balance of water in Ningxia and its adjacent basins. On the grid scale, the total dynamic residual water in Ningxia from 2000 to 2015 was 2.20&#215;1012 m3~6.26&#215;1012 m3. However, there was still a dynamic water demand gap of -72.25&#215;108 m3 ~ -59.08&#215;108 m3, which could only be supplemented by manual water intake. At the regional scale, Ningxia had two sides, which was both the beneficiary of the upper Xiaheyan basin, Qingshui River - Kushui River basin, Xiaheyan - Shizuishan basin, Hexi Inland River-Shiyang River basin, Hexi Inland Rive-Hexi desert basin and internal flow area, and the supplier of the downstream Shizuishan - Hekou town, Longmen to Sanmenxia subbasin. As the benefitting district, the total net inflow water supply service in the supply area from 2000 to 2015 was 135.86&#215;108 m3 ~ 294.22&#215;108 m3, among which the non-Ningxia region in the sub-basin above the Xiaheyan basin was the main source region of water supply service in Ningxia. As the supply area, the net outflow volume of water supply service in Ningxia from 2000 to 2015 was 72.83&#215;108 m3~200.46&#215;108 m3, mainly flowing to non-Ningxia regions from Shizuishan to Hekou town. Overall, the net volume of water supply service flowing into Ningxia from 2000 to 2015 ranged from 63.03&#215;108 m3 to 93.76&#215;108 m3. This study can enhance the understanding of trans-boundary telecoupling relationship of WES in Ningxia and contribute to form a foundation for interregional management and allocation of WES in (semi-)arid regions to promote equity in sustainable regional development.

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Numerical Investigation for Riverbank Filtration Sustainability Considering Climatic Changes in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions; Case Study of RBF Site at Embaba, Nile Delta, Egypt

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041897 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1897

Author(s):

Ismail Abd-Elaty ◽

Hala M. Ghanayem ◽

Martina Zeleňáková ◽

Peter Mésároš ◽

Osama K. Saleh

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Arid Regions ◽

Nile Delta ◽

Climatic Changes ◽

Numerical Code ◽

Base Case ◽

Water Supply Systems ◽

Aquifer Recharge ◽

Semi Arid

Changes in riverine hydrography and reduced aquifer recharge due to projected climate changes in arid and semi-arid regions are the main issues of water supply, especially in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Continuous degradation results from reduced Nile water flow, poor management of groundwater extraction, and human activities throughout the Nile’s course and drainage channels. Contamination of this water with heavy metals and dissolved organic solids reduces the quality of this water, which increases the price of treatment. River Bank Filtration (RBF) is a water treatment technology used for improving the quality of drinking water taken from polluted rivers where abstraction wells are installed on the banks. This study was applied to the RBF site at Embaba, Nile Delta, Egypt using the numerical code MT3D. The study was simulated and calibrated for the current situation and number of scenarios to investigate the effect of climatic changes on RBF sustainability. Four scenarios were simulated to identify and estimate the RBF portion and the total water travel time from the river to the wells. The first scenario involves a reduction in river stages, the second a decrease in aquifer recharge, the third a combination of the first two scenarios, and the fourth scenario combines scenarios 1, 2, and 3. The results indicate that the RBF portion decreased from 67.42% in the base case to 35.46% and 64.99% with a reduction in river stage by 75% from the base case and a decrease in aquifer recharge from 182.50 (base case) to 50 mm per year, respectively. Moreover, the RBF portion increased to reach 87.75% with a reduction in the General Head Boundary of 75% from the base case, while the combination of the three scenarios decreased the RBF portion to 67.24%. Finally, the water supply systems in arid and semi-arid regions should be extended by installing and operating RBF facilities to manage the negative effects of climatic change through reduction in river stages and aquifer recharge, and increasing abstraction due to overpopulation.

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A multi-century spring precipitation history for northern Iran derived from tree-ring δ18O

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15355 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Zeynab Foroozan ◽

Jussi Grießinger ◽

Kambiz Pourtahmasi ◽

Achim Bräuning

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Large Scale ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Spring Precipitation ◽

Northern Iran ◽

The Past ◽

Precipitation Record ◽

Hydroclimatic Variability ◽

Semi Arid

Knowledge about the long-term hydroclimatic variability is essential to analyze the historic course and recent impact of climate change, especially in semi-arid and arid regions of the world. In this study, we present the first tree-ring &#948;18O chronology for the semi-arid parts of northern Iran based on juniper trees. We were able to reconstruct past hydroclimatic variability for the past 500 years. The highly significant correlation between tree-ring &#948;18O and spring precipitation indicates the primary influence of spring moisture availability on &#948;18O variations. The thereof derived precipitation reconstruction reveals short and long-term variability of precipitation intensity, duration, and frequency of dry/wet events. During the past 500 years, the driest period occurred in the 16th century, whereas the 18th century was comparably wet. A gradual decline in the reconstructed spring precipitation is evident since the beginning of the 19th century, culminating in the continuing drought of the 20th century. An analysis of dry/wet years indicated that over the last three centuries, the occurrence of years with a relatively dry spring is increasing. In contrast, more humid spring conditions are decreasing. However, the overall frequency of the occurrence of extreme events increased over the past five centuries. In addition, past hydrological disasters recorded in Persian history were well represented in our reconstruction. Correlations between our reconstructed precipitation record and large-scale circulation systems revealed no significant influence of large-scale climatic drivers on spring precipitation variations in north Iran, which therefore seem to be mostly controlled by a regional climate forcing.

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