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Surface Runoff and Drought Assessment Using Global Water Resources Datasets - from Oum Er Rbia Basin to the Moroccan Country Scale

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Abstract

Precipitation and surface runoff vary strongly in space and time across Morocco. The country’s water management is primarily governed at the basin level, following a decentralized approach. However, in some cases, water is shared between basins, which increases the complexity and the potential for conflicts. The current study, conducted at Oum Er Rbia (OER) basin and Moroccan country scales, evaluates the use of novel Earth Observation (EO) products (surface soil moisture and evapotranspiration) combined with global water balance model (PCR-GLOBWB) for basin level surface runoff and country level drought assessment. At the basin level, OER River discharges considerable surface water amounts from the Middle Atlas Mountains to large reservoirs, providing water for various sectors, predominantly irrigated agriculture. The EO based PCR-GLOBWB model yielded satisfactory monthly surface runoff results validated through two OER streamflow gauges. Spatially distributed quarterly annual surface runoff matched well with the simulations achieved through more detailed Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeling. EO data and PCR-GLOBWB model were subsequently used to investigate country scale drought occurrence using various drought indicators (Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Runoff Index (SRI), and Standardized Soil Moisture Index (SSMI)). The study concludes on a foremost local to regional nature of droughts. Consistent assessment of water stress situations, from the basin to the country scale, suggest the good potential of novel EO products and global models to support demand driven water management, especially in data scarce areas.

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Acknowledgements

The authors like to thank EU-Framework 7 for financial support enabling the successful project conduction and the scientific network development and partnership in terms of ‘Global earth observation for integrated water resource assessment’ EU project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Amman, Jordan

    Stefan Strohmeier & Mira Haddad

  2. Inland Water Systems Unit Deltares, Delft, the Netherlands

    Patricia López López

  3. Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

    Patricia López López & Geert Sterk

  4. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Rabat, Morocco

    Vinay Nangia, Mohammed Karrou & Gianni Montanaro

  5. Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Beni Mellal, Morocco

    Abdelghani Boudhar

  6. Department of Water Science and Engineering, IHE Delft, Delft, the Netherlands

    Clara Linés

  7. Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Ted Veldkamp

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  1. Stefan Strohmeier
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Correspondence to Stefan Strohmeier.

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Strohmeier, S., López López, P., Haddad, M. et al. Surface Runoff and Drought Assessment Using Global Water Resources Datasets - from Oum Er Rbia Basin to the Moroccan Country Scale. Water Resour Manage 34, 2117–2133 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-019-02251-6

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