Water management in a complex hydrological basin: application of WEAP to the Lake Kinneret watershed (Briefing 2.3)

Abstract

Sustainability of fresh water ecosystems and human activities in Mediterranean watersheds under future climate change can be supported with integrated hydrological modeling. The Lake Kinneret Watershed (LKW) is divided between the three countries, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria and incorporates four different hydrogeological units (Mt. Hermon in the north, the Golan Heights in the east, the eastern Galilee Mountains in the west, and the Hula Valley in the central part of the watershed). We simulated the complex hydrological and water demand system of LKW, focusing on two main objectives: 1) Incorporating the main hydrological components of the LKW into an integrated water resources management (IWRM) tool for a large heterogeneous watershed, and 2) Identifying vulnerable areas inside LKW which are more sensitive to climate change. Findings from the WEAP scenario applications were that the Golan and Hula areas represent two different kinds of water production strategies and the Golan area relies on local reservoir with no long term storage. The Hula area irrigation relies on the supply of water from direct pumping from the Jordan River. The results of regional water supply system analysis imply that the National Water Carrier and the Hula are more vulnerable to the lake operation rules, then to “climate change”. This is explained by the large volume of water flow in the Jordan River with respect to total water demand in this area. The Golan is operated almost autonomously, thus is less vulnerable to operation rules and more sensitive to local climatic conditions.