Indicators in the study sites

Table of Contents

1. Compilers and contributors
2. Introduction
3. Climate indicators
4. Water indicators
   1. Water quality
   2. Water quantity
   3. Ground water exploitation
   4. Water consumption/water demands
5. Soil indicators
6. Vegetation indicators
7. Water runoff indicators
8. Forest fires indicators
9. Agriculture indicators
10. Cultivation indicators
11. Animal husbandry indicators
12. Land management indicators
13. Land use indicators
14. Water use indicators
15. Tourism indicators
16. Human characteristics indicators
17. Institutional indicators
18. Conclusions
19. References

Water quantity

Knowledge of water resources of a region are of great importance for the local economy. Water resources in European Union, particularly for the Southern regions, seem under severe physical, social, economic and environmental stresses, compounding to the water uses problems. Water scarcity is a natural phenomenon since water on the earth has been distributed in a non-uniform way with its allocation changing over time. Groundwater resources include deep and shallow aquifers that are connected to rivers, streams or seas. For a quantitative analysis it is important to have sound estimates of the recharge of the aquifer over a given time period as well as its interactions with surface waters (recharge and discharge). For an assessment of groundwater resources it is essential to have repeated observations of groundwater levels at a relatively large number of observation wells, since groundwater systems respond to short-term and long-term changes in climate, groundwater withdrawal and (artificial) recharge and land uses. Surface waters encompass both rivers and lakes and can quantitatively be assessed by long term averages of the available water resulting from endogenous precipitation.

As Table 2 shows, water quality characteristics used for irrigation have been collected in 361 field sites, corresponding to 5 study sites areas. Based on the obtained data, water quantity available for use is characterized as moderate in 37.7% of the study field sites (Fig. 12) and specifically in some areas of the sites Crete-Greece, Djanybek-Russia, and Boteti Area-Botswana. The quantity of water has been characterized as adequate in 32,7% of the study field sites and particularly in Nestos Basin Maggana-Greece, and in some cases for the study sites of Crete-Greece, Novij Saratov-Russia, and Boteti Area-Botswana. The water quantity is characterized as low in 29.6% of the study field sites corresponding to all above mentioned 4 study sites (Fig 12).

Fig. 12. Distribution of water quantity classes prevailing in the study field sites