Soft Path Water Management in Dry and arid Regions of the Arabian Peninsula by Rainwater Harvesting

Saudi Arabia has limited renewable water resources and the groundwater is the main source of water in Saudi Arabia which. With an arid climate, it receiv es about 50-100 mm/year of rainfall in Central, Eas tern and Northern regions. There are few studies investi gating the future regional climate change and some has predicted a decrease in precipitation but with extr eme climate events such as flood and stormy rainfal l events. Authors have evaluated the thirty-one years record of the rainfall in different parts of the K ingdom and found an increasing trend in annual maximum daily rainfalls at investigated locations signifying t he more extreme rainfall evens and resulting floods of short-durations. A brief review of the Rainwater Harvesting and Management (RWHM) practices in the Arab region and the current use of rainwater in Saudi Arabia is presented and keeping in mind the c limate impacts on the water resources, authors have suggested rooftop RWHM as a soft-path water management strategy to avoid short-term flooding problems in urban areas. Cooperation between government and non-government sectors is also recommended for successful implementations of small-scale, decentra lized and cost-effective practice of RWHM at individual/community levels.

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