Water Resources Assessment of Northern Cyprus for a Sustainable Management

2021-2-11
Hilal, Adnan Yaser Adnan
Increasing world population and industrialisation lead to a rapid rise in water consumption and demand. As a result, both surface and sub-surface water resources were overexploited in most parts of the world, including Northern Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean region over the past years. In this study, the spatial distribution and temporal variation of daily, monthly, seasonal and yearly rainfall patterns in Northern Cyprus are analysed using Concentration Index, Precipitation Concentration Index, Seasonality Index and gamma distribution, respectively. A significant variation of daily and annual rainfall patterns are observed in the majority of the stations. Additionally, monthly water balance components, including potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, soil storage capacity, water surplus, and runoff, are estimated in the study area. Thirty-six years of daily rainfall and monthly average temperature data collected in thirty-three stations across the study region is used in the mentioned parts of the study. Moreover, the available runoff water for harvesting in the main water streams and the main cities are evaluated. A substantial amount, around 12% of the rainfall, is found to be available for harvesting in the main cities and from the main streams. Furthermore, the possibility of introducing reverse osmosis seawater desalination as a sustainable and climate-independent source of potable water is investigated. Additionally, this study aims to deliver reliable and scientific data to fill the literature gap to improve the sustainable management of water resources in Northern Cyprus.

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Citation Formats
A. Y. A. Hilal, “Water Resources Assessment of Northern Cyprus for a Sustainable Management,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2021.