IWRM is the coordinated development and management of water and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. (Global Water Partnership 2000).
The SMART research project had the goal of developing an transferable approach for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the water shortage region of the Lower Jordan Valley. In this context the following questions played a central role: How to increase the water availability and water quality in the catchment area of the Lower Jordan River without endanger vital ecosystems and social and economical welfare? Which innovative technologies, decision support systems and management strategies can be applied in a reasonable and effective way for a sustainable use of water resources?
The strategic objective of the second phase of SMART (SMART II) was to improve the scientific background and to provide methodologies and implement demonstration pilots for the large deployment of water new utilization and management technologies in the project area, including the large scale deployment of wastewater treatment, the desalination of brackish water and the conjugate use of water resources of different qualities in order to increase the available water yield and ensure the durability of their utilization. Implementation and demonstrations activities had been emphasized alongside research and development, and dissemination and capacity building activities.
The following publications summarize the research efforts briefly:
Summarizing Project Reports
- Klinger, J., Goldscheider, N. & Hötzl, H. (2015): SMART - IWRM : Integrated Water Resources Management in the Lower Jordan Rift Valley; Project Report 2nd Phase, KIT Scientific Reports 7698, ISBN: 978-3-7315-0393-4.
- Klinger, J., Grimmeisen, F., Goldscheider, N. (2014): SMART – Executive Summary, May 14, 2014.
- Wolf, L., Hoetzl, H. [Ed.] (2011): SMART - IWRM : Integrated Water Resources Management in the Lower Jordan Rift Valley; Project Report Phase I, KIT Scientific Publishing
Project Reports / Deliverables
Work package 2: Database
Work package 3: Technologies
- Work package 3-1 Waste Water Treatment and Reuse
- D 301+302: Delivery of sites Model Village
- D 303: Report on the Construction of Modified Septic Tanks
- D 304+307: Report on the construction of the SBR systems
- D 305: MBR Cluster Solution in Maghareeb
- D 306: Technical evaluation of the ecotechnologies
- D 308: The potential of the sludge bed
- D 309: Optimized ecotechnology system
- D 310: Operation and financial models for decentralized wastewater treatment solutions
- Work package 3-2 Managed Aquifer Recharge
- D 311+315+317+503: Identification of biodegradation processes
- D 312: Demostration of Ar in Auja
- D 312: Impacts of Wala Reservoir stored storm waters on Wala-Haidan Well Field
- D 313: Demonstration of artificial recharge of treated wastewater
- D 314: Smart runoff harvesting solution in Jordan groundwater storage dam Wadi Ishe pilot site
- D 316: Operation of a MBR pilot plant for domestic waste water treatment and influencing factors on the elimination of micropollutants
- D 318+320: Development, Evaluation and Ranking of MAR
- D 318: Identification of the most suitable areas for the implementation of groundwater artificial recharge
- D 319+327+705: Cost Mobilisation Add Water
- Work package 3-3 Brackish Water Desalination
- D 321: Geophysical Investigation (ABU Eastern Part 2)
- D 321: Sustainable Management of Available Water Resources (TAU Western Part 1)
- D 322: Sustainable Management of Available Water Resources
- D 323: Selection of a Suitable Brackish Water
- D 324: Potential Sites Brackish Water Use
- D 325: Demonstration of desalination
- D 326: Environmental Impact Assessement for Desalination technologies in LJV-D326
- D 328: IWRM concept of regional deployment of desalination units
Work package 4: Water Resources Assessement
- D 401: Data acquisition report for the input
- D 402: Geological and hydrogeological conceptual models with water budgets for each subbasin
- D 403: Geophysical Surveys
- D 404: JAMS merging attributes
- D 405: Local hydrological models and
- D 406_1: Water Balance Wadi Shueib
- D 406: Quantification and spatial delineation GU
- D 407: Assessment of temporal evolution of water
- D 408: Waterquality impact matrix
- D 409: Individual numerical transient flow
- D 410+412: TBModel
- D 411: JAMS Transboundary CS
- D 413: Impact of climate change on local water resources
- D 414: Report on new drilling sites
Work package 5: Groundwater Protection
- D 501: Water resources pollution from urban areas in the LJV
- D 502: Monitoring of Surface Water pollution
- D 504: Introduction_KIT-BGR Cooperation
- D 504_2: Coop-BGR-SMART - Conceptual Model for a Tracer Test in Wadi Hidan
- D 504_3: Coop-BGR-SMART Delineation of Groundwater Protection Zones for Hidan Well Field
- D 504: Delineation of protection zones
- D 505: Delineation of Wellhead Protection Zone
- D 505: On the Documentation on Workshop with decision makers to discuss
- D 506: Economic Assessment of GW protection zones
- D 507: Improved monitoring concepts
- D 508: Part 1/2 Edwakat
Work package 6: Water Management Tools
- D 601: Step 1 of DSS development
- D 602: DSS module-Hydrobudget
- D 603: MCO Module
- D 604: Platform for Risk Assessment
- D 606: Knowledge Management
- D 607: Computational model for the simulation of Sat - Unsat flow
- D 608: Step 2 of DSS development Version 1.0
Work package 7: Socio-Economics
- D 701+704: CBA report
- D 702: Quantifying the Environmental and socioeconomic Benefits of DWWT
- D 703: Assessing the impacts of different water qualities and quantities on farmer income and their economic situation in the Jordan Valley
- D 705+319+327: Cost effectiveness analysis of alternative technologies for the mobilisation of additional water
- D 706+707: Cost-benefit analysis of alternative IWRM strategies at watershed level and assessment of their financial feasibility
- D 706+707: Synopsis of the WP7 socioeconomic studies
- D 708: Investment, Operation and Maintenance Costs of IWRM Technology alternatives in Jericho
- D 709: Social acceptance of IWRM alternatives in West Bank
- D 710: Institutional feasibility of alternatives Technologies in West Bank
- D 711: Assessing the socio-economic aspects related to irrigation with water of different qualities
- D 712: Participatory Planning
Work package 8: IWRM Scenarios
- D 801: Report on downscaling of nationwide and regional scenarios to local - subbasin level
- D 803+804+805: IWRM Strategies at Local Sub-Basin level, Sensitivity Analysis and Performance Assessment
- D 806+807: Challenges of implementing IWRM in the Lower Jordan Valley
Work package 9: Dissemination and Capacity Building
For a decision-making in natural resources management a profound database of all available variables and measurements is essential. The data and information management are a key issue for an IWRM. In SMART a comprehensive database management system (DBMS) called DAISY (Data and Information System) was set up to efficiently supply all partners with input-data for establishing systems and system (Modeling, Geographical information systems - GIS). The DBMS makes them available via a personal internetportal and an interface of a GIS platform. A web based graphical user interface (GUI) for data queries was established.
Within the SMART-project, the research strategy “Implementation Research” was developed with the goal to establish resilient infrastructure for managing water resources under scarcity conditions and within an integrated water resources management approach. The core element of the SMART project is “innovative technologies”. In the area of decentralized wastewater management the following results have been achieved:
MAR is seen as a key technology to mitigate water shortage in areas characterized by high freshwater demand, limited water availability and high temporal variability. Diverse technologies were tested and further developed in the SMARTII project region. Activities in WP3-2 included studies of implementation-oriented research in selected test sites, an evaluation of relevant biogeochemical processes during the soil passage, as well as socio-economic considerations concerning the feasibility of MAR implementation.
The Lower Jordan Rift Valley has relatively high quantities of non-exploited brackish water sources which can be treated to generate fresh water. They can be found in the shallow and deep aquifers, mostly coexisting with fresh water. A detailed study was carried out to integrate the amount, locations and quality of brackish water resources in the study area based on previous studies as well as exploration of sites for brackish water utilization. Efforts were made to locate sites for utilization of brackish water from the various sources in order to produce preliminary forecast and recommendation of the volume and salinity of water that can be explored from each site. Accurate endorsements can be achieved only by future detail survey.
The assessment of surface water and groundwater resources is the most important component in the long-term planning of an integrated water management scheme since it provides information on the sustainable average available input on the supply side, its hydro-chemical properties as well as its temporal variability. Generally, there are two main methodologies employed to quantitatively determine available water resources. These are Direct Measurement of discharge (surface / groundwater / wastewater) components and water budgeting and forward modelling with hydrological models. In SMART, an integrated strategy was followed that includes the spectrum of the above listed methodologies. Detailed catchment based physical models were built for those catchments, where favorable conditions with respect to catchment characteristics and measurement logistics existed.
Within WP5 following aspects were addressed: A detailed evaluation of water quality and trace contaminants in the Lower Jordan Valley and side Wadis, with a focus on wastewater impacts on groundwater resources. An evaluation of chemical and biological surface water quality, including the development of a bioindicator approach using aquatic invertebrates, specifically adapted to the LJV region. The development and initial implementation of continuous monitoring techniques at a karst spring in Jordan that is connected to the regional drinking water network. The advancement of groundwater protection zoning concepts, with initial implementation in the Palestine territories, including a socio-economic assessment.
The focus within WP IWRM tools was put on the development, deployment and application of state of the art tools for IWRM, including: 1) a web-based, set of visual tools for water resources management – the SMARTDSS platform developed by EWRE; 2) a web-based visual platform for knowledge management – the DROPEDIA application (developed by KIT); 3) a platform for risk assessment (developed by EWRE) and 4) comparative analysis of the performance and applicability of software applications for the simulation of variably saturated flow and reactive transport (prepared by EWRE).
Socio-economic studies on water management address a broad spectrum of issues related to different performance goals, such as economic efficiency, financial affordability, social equity and participation. Water problems in terms of shortage and poor quality can have serious adverse impacts on the welfare of communities and societies. Subject of the socio-economic studies prepared for SMARTII is the economic efficiency of various water management options and the institutional prerequisites for their implementation. In Palestine, particularly at the West Bank, and at the lower Jordan River Valley priority is given to the following technical solutions
WP8 focused on the provision of planning criteria on the sub-basin level and the integration of results from other work packages into combined IWRM approaches. Nation- and region wide scenarios, which were the result of several international research projects, provided the starting point for prognoses on the water sector development in the research areas of SMART.
An aggregated report on IWRM strategies at Local Sub-Basin Level, Sensitivity analysis and performance assessment focused on two different SMART engineering and scientific approaches
Knowledge Transfer: In the SMART-project, a focus was placed on building strategic network from the start. This was done inter alia through a project-related program in which a total of 26 doctoral students from Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Germany participated. The setting and the care of this network represents a sustainable use of the SMART project, as many of the former graduate students now work in decision-making leadership positions in government agencies and ministries.
In addition, a scientific exchange program (Scientific Advanced Training) has been promoted to the ongoing scientific exchange between partners from the region and Germany. This program took alone in SMARTII ten scientists from the three countries.
The publication and dissemination of the results are documented in more than 35 papers in international journals. Furthermore, SMART can look back on more than 80 contributions to international conferences and worked for example in the IWRM conference in Dresden and Karlsruhe, as co-organizer.
Capacity Development: To overcome further societal and political barriers that impede implementation and to set impulses towards sustainable development on different social strata, capacity development activities that targeted different and essential stakeholder groups were realized.