Development of an Urban Water Scarcity Index (Case Study: Tehran City)

Document Type : Technical Note (5 pages)

Author

Associate Professor, Physical Geography Department, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this study, the Urban Water Scarcity Index (UWSI), a hydrology-demography based-index, was developed to assess the intensity of water scarcity in urban areas. The UWSI index is presented to show the difference between hydrological drought (in terms of standardized streamflow index) and the water-crowding index. For the application of the developed index, the city of Tehran was considered as a case study in which about 72% of the domestic water demands are supplied from the surface water sources in the surrounding catchments. The time series of the monthly data of surface water flow entering five reservoirs around Tehran during a period of 21 years (1998-2018) and the annual changes in Tehran's population were the input data to this study. The results showed that the annual value of the UWSI index in the three time periods of 1998-2007, 2007-2009, and 2009-2018 has negative, nearly zero, and positive values, respectively. During the first period, hydrological drought dominated the water stress in Tehran. But in the third period, the water stress is much higher than hydrological drought. The positive trend of UWSI during the recent decade reveals that water stress threatens the sustainability in providing the city's water needs. Therefore, strict strategies are needed to manage and overcome the water shortage. The UWSI index developed in this study incorporates both blue water resources (i.e., the river flows) and population size for Tehran city and can be served as an initial water scarcity assessment tool in other urban areas.
 

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History

  • Receive Date: 04 January 2023
  • Revise Date: 03 April 2023
  • Accept Date: 08 April 2023

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