CHAPTER 3 Water Resources in Saudi Arabia - Shodhganga

 Water Resources in Saudi Arabia - Shodhganga

CHAPTER 3

Figure 3.2: Principal Aquifers in Saudi Arabia

  Water is the most splendid substance on the earth. It governs the climate, life, food cycle and many others. In many instances the way of development and the quality of life of people in different countries determined by available water resources. Water profile of any country shows the strategic significance and plays an extensive role in the development of human society. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has comprised a vast area of Arabian Peninsula and almost of semi-arid and arid type. The terrain of the country has a slight variation in the topography, but, on the whole, it is an unbroken expanse of gravel plains, salt flats, and sand dunes with few lakes or ephemeral streams. 

  The Empty Quarter1 , one of the largest continuous sand deserts in the world, extended in the south of the country while another large sandy desert, the Nafud, located in the northern part. The South-West area of the country contains a mountainous region with a few peaks rising to over 9,000 feet2 . Whereas, the vast extent of the desert, covers almost 80 Percent of the Arabian Peninsula, confine with the occasional rain that entails their no substantial permanent lakes and streams. However, few lakes did exist but located far in the southwest of the country that are subtle and impermanent. The ephemeral streams have not had significant flow. However, these pop up in the desert after rains from time to time. This arid condition marked by scarce and infrequent rainfall and long summer with high temperature. The available surface water and groundwater resources are limited, precipitation rates are low, and evaporation is high. The long-term average annual 

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1 Also known as Rub al Khali (in Arabic). 

2 Fisher, W. B. (1971). The Middle East: a Physical, Social and Regional Geography (Sixth ed.). London, Great Britain: Methuen and Co. Ltd.

  precipitation has been estimated at 114 mm per year3 (FAO, 2008), which is equal to 245.5 km3 /year over the whole country. This average of rainfall, however, significantly varies from region to region in the study area. In the north, it is between 100-200 mm and drop below 100 mm in the south except near the coast4 .

  The elevated region of the west and south do, however, experience appreciable rainfall and 500 mm/year is not uncommon in some areas 5 . Apart from that, oases and widyan systems are quite visible in the whole of the desert region and provide elixir to the sustainability and life. According to Falkenmark’s scarcity index6 , Saudi Arabia faces extreme water shortage. The average water share from renewable sources was about 281 and 248.7 cubic meters per person in the year 2005 and 2009 respectively. In terms of daily per capita water consumption, Saudi Arabia ranks the third biggest consumer of water in the world after United States of America and Canada7 .

  It is, further, expected that the demand for potable water will increase about 10 MCM per day during the next twenty years, if the daily per capita consumption rates continue at its current level, and creating a large gap between the available water supply and demand8 (SAMA, 2011 47th report). 

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3 Estimates shows large variation in the volume of rainfall as it depends on the area covered by rain during the rain event within the watershed. FAO estimated, for 114 mm average annual rainfall, 245.5 km3 /year (FAO, 2008) while ASCAD calculated 158.47 km3 /year over the whole country (ASCAD, 1997). See ref: FAO. (2008). Aquastate Survey: Saudi Arabia. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/sau/SAU-CP_eng .pdf 

4 Critchfield, HJ. 2002. General Climatology, Prentice-Hall of India. New Delhi. 

5 Al-Ghobari, H. M. (2000). Estimation of reference evapotranspiration for southern region of Saudi Arabia. Irrigation Science, 19

(2), 81-86. 
6 Note: it is a measure of per capita of water resource describe by Falkenmark et al., 1989. Falkenmark M, Lundqvist J, Widstrand C. 1989. Macro-Scale Water Scarcity Requires Micro- Scale Approaches - Aspects of Vulnerability in Semi-Arid Development. Natural Resources Forum, 13, 258-267. 
7 SAMA. 2015. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, (50th Annual Report) 1435 H (2014 G). Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 
8 SAMA. 2011. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, (47th Annual report). Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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