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Site Suitability in Water Harvesting Management Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS Techniques: A Case Study of Sulaymaniyah Province, Iraq

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Climate Change, Agriculture and Society

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Abstract

The human-induced water use changes and the climate change effects have impartially led to long-term drought, water shortages and some casual flood incidents. These have greatly impacted the northern region of Iraq over the past few decades. Water resource management has become a key to resolve this dilemma, particularly for the arid and semi-arid areas. Harvested water could be exploited for consumption, domestic and animal use. Moreover, it is considered to be a valuable resource for irrigating agricultural lands. This study aims to identify appropriate sites for rainwater harvesting in the Sulaymaniyah province, Iraqi Kurdistan region. These processes have been done by using remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) model has been used to find out suitable locations for water harvesting. The criteria considered were runoff, slope, soil type, land cover and drainage density. Each factor is assigned to its weight depending on its effect. Based on the findings, the average region that is outstanding and very well suited for water collection is 32% of the whole area. The model that has been applied in the current study is extremely significant and supportive for water resource management.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Management, Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul Gedik University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Shaho Noori

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul Gedik University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Redvan Ghasemlounia

  3. Department of Surveying Engineering, Technical College of Kirkuk, Northern Technical University, Kirkuk, 36001, Iraq

    Abbas Mohammed Noori

  4. Geomatics Engineering Division, Civil Engineering Department, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq

    Abbas Mohammed Noori

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  1. Shaho Noori
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  2. Redvan Ghasemlounia
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  3. Abbas Mohammed Noori
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Correspondence to Shaho Noori .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Serampore Girls’ College, Serampore, West Bengal, India

    Asraful Alam

  2. Department of Geography, Aliah University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Rukhsana

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Noori, S., Ghasemlounia, R., Noori, A.M. (2023). Site Suitability in Water Harvesting Management Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS Techniques: A Case Study of Sulaymaniyah Province, Iraq. In: Alam, A., Rukhsana (eds) Climate Change, Agriculture and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28251-5_13

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