The Sustainable Water Partnership held this webinar on August 15, 2019 to learn about the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) efforts to better understand and manage transboundary water sources.
Presenters
This activity will design and field validate ultra-low pressure drip irrigation systems for the MENA region that will cut pumping energy by 50%, enable drip systems to run on low-pressure municipal water supplies, and facilitate the dissemination of low-cost, solar-powered drip irrigation solutions with up to 40% lower capital costs. The implementer will partner with a private sector partner to mainstream the technology into existing production lines for wider regional dissemination. The target areas are Jordan and Morocco.
The Ararat Valley is a 1,300-kilometer swath of fertile land in western Armenia that lies in the shadow of Mount Ararat. The valley is known as the breadbasket of the country. “It feeds about half the population,” says Armen Varosyan, project director of USAID’s Participatory Utilization and Resource Efficiency of Water (PURE Water) project. He explains that a clean and accessible groundwater reservoir fuels the region’s productivity. But, Varosyan says, “There is a problem.” Armenia’s natural groundwater is drying up.
It is widely believed that solar powered solutions will play a critical role in achieving the ambitious UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to rural water supply. However, unless solar-powered water systems (SPWS) are implemented and supported effectively, the benefits of the technology will not be realized and existing challenges will only be amplified.
Mane Minasyan lives in Vedi, a small town in the heart of the Ararat Valley in the west of Armenia. At 19, she is raising awareness of groundwater depletion and prompting behavior change in her community. Mane received her investigative journalism training from USAID’s Participatory Utilization and Resources Efficiency of Water (PURE Water) project, which is working to increase water productivity, efficiency, and quality in the Ararat Valley by enhancing citizen participation in water resources management.
This document is part of a series of studies produced by the African and Latin American Resilience to Climate Change (ARCC) project that addresses adaptation to climate change in West Africa. Within the ARCC West Africa studies, this document falls in the subseries Climate Change and Water Resources in West Africa. ARCC undertook the West Africa water studies to increase understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on water resources in West Africa and identify means to support adaptation to these changes.
With funding provided by USAID, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners are combining geospatial data from remote sensing with traditional hydrogeological methods to map groundwater resources in two study areas in Kenya and Ethiopia. The primary goals of the project are to locate and quantify the groundwater aquifers in order to support sustainable management of the resource and generate higher success rate when drilling water supply wells, as well training local water resources agency staff and others on the methodology used to develop the maps.
The Tanzanian community of Loibor Siret is a village of approximately 5,000 people (predominantly ethnic Maasai) and 15,000 head of livestock --- a number that rises and falls with the seasons. Here, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) works alongside Tanzania People & Wildlife (TPW) and community representatives to improve water management in this semi-arid landscape.
The Middle East Regional Irrigation Management Information System (MERIMIS) project is a quadrilateral effort to help farmers better manage scarce water resources. Started in 2003, MERIMIS involves the U.S. Department of Agriculture and government agencies and NGOs from Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.
Water Currents is produced biweekly by USAID’s E3 Water Office. Each issue contains recent news and articles on water sector issues, partner and donor updates, latest sector research, and a special focus on one topic. Please provide your feedback and suggestions by contacting the waterteam@usaid.gov.
