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IWRAβs next webinar will introduce participants to major river systems that typically originate in mountains and flow through arid or semi-arid climates downstream.Β Β Β For millennia, spring floods have deposited fertile soil here, which together with diversions from the riversβ flows have enabled extensive irrigated agriculture.Β These downstream areas form the backbone of regional economies and world food production. Engineering works in these river systems, notably reservoirs built over the last 120 years, have increased year-round water supply for food production and for growing cities. Yet today, climate change, reservoir sedimentation, depletion of groundwater and reduced environmental flows challenge the sustainability of these river systems. This webinar addresses the above concerns and looks at possible responses.
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The theme of this webinar was that of a multiyear project, Sustainability of Engineered Rivers in Arid Lands (SERIDAS), introduced inΒ Water InternationalΒ by AysegΓΌl Kibaroglu, Jurgen Schmandt and George Ward in the article entitled β Engineered Rivers in Arid Lands: Searching for Sustainability in Theory and Practiceβ (42.3, 241-253).Β The full results of the project will appear shortly in a book published by Cambridge University Press. |
