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Abstract

Climate change is a topic of concern and controversy for many communities and governments around the world. Limited rainfall, high temperatures and extremely high-water stress are the reasons for increasing water demand in the Sultanate of Oman, especially in the agricultural sector. Thus, this research aims to investigate how climate change impacts on water demand. In order to identify the most important factors of climate change that impact on water demand and the best mitigation measures for reducing this impact, a questionnaire has been distributed to participants who work in the water-related sector. Historical data for climate variables and water demand has been collected from a study area (Al Mudhaibi) for the period 1998 to 2019 in order to gain a fair assessment. Different methods were used in this investigation research, including a correlation between variables, trend analysis for climate parameters, regression analysis to predict water demand and, lastly, an assessment and hypothesis have been proposed for mitigation measures in terms of cost and effectiveness. The questionnaire finds that temperature and rainfall are the variables relating to climate change which most impact on water demand. The methodology results revealed that there is a weak relationship between temperature and rainfall as the climate variables related to water demand. The temperature trends indicated an increase over time, while rainfall trends show fluctuation. Regression analysis, since there was a weak correlation between variables, demonstrates that water demand does not depend on temperature and rainfall for their prediction, and this is likely to be due to the high levels of variability or random noise in the dataset. From the questionnaire results, installation of Modern Irrigation Systems appears to be the best mitigation measure to reduce the demand for water, and in terms of cost and effectiveness, a Sub-surface Drip Irrigation system was the best. These results conclude that climate change does not impact on water demand; this could be due to incorrect data input or the short-term nature of data entered. The hypothesis of installing a Subsurface Drip Irrigation system in Al Mudhaibi shows the best effect on water saving. It would be recommended in the future to do a further investigation into this topic, choosing a different study area and different climate or water demand variables.

Course: Civil Engineering - MSc - C0618

Date Deposited: 2020-12-17

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13643.html