IWRA Executive Office

OS6j Urban and regional water conservation and reuse

abstract 356

DECISION TOOL TO EVALUATE AND PLAN WATER RESOURCES AT SOUK-AHRAS

Author(s): Samia Snani, Soumia Ouled Zaoui, Yassine Djebbar, Habib Abida

Keyword(s): WEAP, integrated water resources management, stress conditions, scenarios analysis, water planning

Article:

Poster:

Session: OS6j Urban and regional water conservation and reuse

AbstractThe scarcity and irregularity of precipitation and

the potential adverse effects of climate change will most probably reduce the level of availability of water and tend to

affect the majority of urban centers. Although most of the urban population in Algeria is connected to the water

distribution network (86 %), drinking water is still relatively infrequent in many areas and varies from one city to

another. The variability is also observed in the same city depending on the proximity or connectivity to the

distribution system. Water availability varies from few hours per day to once in several days. The shortage of water

of reasonable quantity and quality to meet the human and environmental needs is called the hydrous stress. This

situation is expected to get worse in the future, with an ever increasing demand and a constant or even a decreasing

offer. Nevertheless, It has been shown in the literature that the lack of water resources does not constitute a major

cause of the water supply deficiency in many cases. Most often, the problem is related more to the bad management

of the resources rather than to the lack of it.

One of the tools that gained large acceptance in dealing with

planning and management of water resources is the WEAP program (water evaluation and planning system). WEAP

is a micro computer tool for integrated water resources planning developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute

along with a number of internationally distinguished professional organizations. WEAP can calculate water demand,

supply, runoff, infiltration, crop requirements, flows, storage, and pollution generation, treatment, discharge and

water quality under varying hydrologic and policy scenarios. It is being used in many areas around the world.

In this study, WEAP is used for the first time in North Africa to evaluate the effects of different water offer

and demand scenarios. This is done by applying it to the water system in the region of Souk-Ahras (North-Eastern

Algeria) through a series of scenarios with varying precipitation, land use, irrigation, socio economic factors, water

price elasticity, and water quality parameters.

The outcome of the study is a decision support and analysis

tool to assist decision makers in evaluating water management alternatives under different planning scenarios

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DECISION TOOL TO EVALUATE AND PLAN WATER RESOURCES AT SOUK-AHRAS