Securing the Future: Sustaining Groundwater Management in the Middle East
Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 11:00 a.m.–12:25 p.m. | Muscat, Oman
Groundwater resources in arid climates play a crucial role in society for the provision of freshwater especially in remote communities that lack infrastructure. It supports agriculture, domestic use, and industrial activities. Most of the fresh water in this region lies in Tertiary sediments harboring fossil groundwater that largely accumulated millions of years ago. Groundwater consumption has increased due to increasing affluence in the region with resulting consequences such as depletion due to over-extraction, climatic pattern changes impacting replenishment, and mishandling of waste disposal causing pollution of the reservoirs. As demand keeps rising, the current identified resources are not sufficient to meet the domestic, industrial, agricultural, and environmental requirements. Hence this critical limited resource requires further updating of regional studies to understand the hydrogeological system and quantification of the resources to define water budget components.
Application of new technology and 4IR tools can be used to develop new methods to monitor and identify new and existing reservoirs and run more complex scenario-based forward models as additional variables can be added to the keep pace with the changing factors and future predictions. Understanding the present and future projection will allow for development of sustainable groundwater management practices and their subsequent implementation. Furthermore, regular updates of groundwater management plans are required which need close collaboration between hydrogeologists and regulatory bodies for continuous updates and maintenance and hence to safeguard a resilience and secure future for the region.
Speakers & Moderator
Venue
Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre