Considering future precipitation in delineation locations for water storage systems - Case study Sri Lanka
(2021) In Master Thesis in Geographical Information Science GISM01 20211Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Abstract
- Demand for the usable water is accumulating globally in parallel with the population growth and the industrial revolution. Nevertheless, availability and accessibility of the usable water is progressively subsiding due to many environmental and socio-economic reasons. This discrepancy can lead the world to a water crisis unless it takes necessary actions to enhance the sustainable use of existing water while maximizing the water storage capacities for the future use. Having said that, paying less attention to the highly related factors while implementing new water related projects, does not seem supportive in achieving their goals. This paper intends emphasizing the importance of consideration of the expected changes in the associated... (More)
- Demand for the usable water is accumulating globally in parallel with the population growth and the industrial revolution. Nevertheless, availability and accessibility of the usable water is progressively subsiding due to many environmental and socio-economic reasons. This discrepancy can lead the world to a water crisis unless it takes necessary actions to enhance the sustainable use of existing water while maximizing the water storage capacities for the future use. Having said that, paying less attention to the highly related factors while implementing new water related projects, does not seem supportive in achieving their goals. This paper intends emphasizing the importance of consideration of the expected changes in the associated environmental and socio-economic factors in the long run when locating water storage systems. Although this study has been limited to the consideration of the precipitation factor, the methodology used in this paper is compatible with utilizing the expected variations in other related climatic factors.
The project focuses on Sri Lanka. Having a year-round rainfall, the country has still been incapable of fulfilling the annual water requirement of the population. Adding new water storage systems focusing on maximizing the rainwater harvesting by taking the future precipitation pattern into account, is considered as one of the effective solutions to tackle the issue. This study focuses on delineate locations for terrestrial water storage systems by taking the future precipitation pattern in the year 2050 into consideration. Despite delineating new locations for water storage systems, the study also points out the available water features within the country that are vulnerable to be dried out in the future mainly due to the change of precipitating pattern. Other related geographical, environmental, and socio-economic factors are integrated with the future predicted precipitation data in delineating the results. Thresholds and weighted linear combination methods were utilized in prioritizing the related conditions at the primary location selection. Pairwise comparison method was utilized in assigning the weights. Additionally, the GIS framework introduced in the paper can be applied to any geographical location based on the availability of data. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- This paper intends emphasizing the importance of consideration of the expected changes in the associated environmental and socio-economic factors in the long run when locating terrestrial water storage systems.
The project focuses on Sri Lanka. Having a year-round rainfall, the country has still been incapable of fulfilling the annual water requirement of the population. The low rainy dry zone of the country is consisted with a higher number of water reservoirs. The high rainy wet zone consisted with “minimum” to “no” water reservoirs in the present scenario. This irregularity in the distribution of the existing water resources has been identified as the main reason for the water crisis in the country. This issue is expected to be... (More) - This paper intends emphasizing the importance of consideration of the expected changes in the associated environmental and socio-economic factors in the long run when locating terrestrial water storage systems.
The project focuses on Sri Lanka. Having a year-round rainfall, the country has still been incapable of fulfilling the annual water requirement of the population. The low rainy dry zone of the country is consisted with a higher number of water reservoirs. The high rainy wet zone consisted with “minimum” to “no” water reservoirs in the present scenario. This irregularity in the distribution of the existing water resources has been identified as the main reason for the water crisis in the country. This issue is expected to be worse based on the predicted future precipitation over the country. Different studies on the future precipitation in the country have concluded an expected lower rainfall over the dry zone and a higher rainfall over the wet zone in the future.
In order to tackle this issue, this study suggests considering future precipitation prediction data in delineating new locations for terrestrial water storage systems. Locating new water reservoirs within the high rainy zone is expected to maximize the rainwater harvesting within the country. Besides, the excess water volume collected within the high rainy zone can be transferred to the low rainy zone during drought periods. It is expected that the available water reservoirs within the low rainy zone in the country will be sufficient to provide the required storage capacity based on the present rainfall and expected rainfall in the future. The study results indicates that most suitable areas for water reservoirs distribute within the wet zone. The study also points out that 96% of the existing tanks in the country will be dried out in future mainly due to the changes in the future precipitation pattern.
The methodology used in this paper is compatible with utilizing the expected variations in different climatic factors in water related projects. Related geographical, environmental, and socio-economic factors are integrated with the future predicted precipitation data in delineating the results. Thresholds and weighted linear combination methods were utilized in prioritizing the related conditions at the primary location selection. Pairwise comparison method was utilized in assigning the weights. Additionally, the GIS framework introduced in the paper can be applied to any geographical location based on the availability of data. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9040418
- author
- Bandaranayake, Kanchana LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- GISM01 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Geography, Geographical Information Systems, Physical Geography, Locating new water resources, Water scarcity, Consideration of climatic changes, Future precipitation, Pairwise comparison, Sri Lanka
- publication/series
- Master Thesis in Geographical Information Science
- report number
- 128
- language
- English
- id
- 9040418
- date added to LUP
- 2021-02-15 13:39:34
- date last changed
- 2021-02-15 13:39:34
@misc{9040418,
abstract = {{Demand for the usable water is accumulating globally in parallel with the population growth and the industrial revolution. Nevertheless, availability and accessibility of the usable water is progressively subsiding due to many environmental and socio-economic reasons. This discrepancy can lead the world to a water crisis unless it takes necessary actions to enhance the sustainable use of existing water while maximizing the water storage capacities for the future use. Having said that, paying less attention to the highly related factors while implementing new water related projects, does not seem supportive in achieving their goals. This paper intends emphasizing the importance of consideration of the expected changes in the associated environmental and socio-economic factors in the long run when locating water storage systems. Although this study has been limited to the consideration of the precipitation factor, the methodology used in this paper is compatible with utilizing the expected variations in other related climatic factors.
The project focuses on Sri Lanka. Having a year-round rainfall, the country has still been incapable of fulfilling the annual water requirement of the population. Adding new water storage systems focusing on maximizing the rainwater harvesting by taking the future precipitation pattern into account, is considered as one of the effective solutions to tackle the issue. This study focuses on delineate locations for terrestrial water storage systems by taking the future precipitation pattern in the year 2050 into consideration. Despite delineating new locations for water storage systems, the study also points out the available water features within the country that are vulnerable to be dried out in the future mainly due to the change of precipitating pattern. Other related geographical, environmental, and socio-economic factors are integrated with the future predicted precipitation data in delineating the results. Thresholds and weighted linear combination methods were utilized in prioritizing the related conditions at the primary location selection. Pairwise comparison method was utilized in assigning the weights. Additionally, the GIS framework introduced in the paper can be applied to any geographical location based on the availability of data.}},
author = {{Bandaranayake, Kanchana}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Master Thesis in Geographical Information Science}},
title = {{Considering future precipitation in delineation locations for water storage systems - Case study Sri Lanka}},
year = {{2021}},
}