Water is one of the world's most important natural resources. Rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization are increasing the demand for water with each passing day. This situation will lead to the emergence of big problems in country's access to water resources in the near future. It is important to correctly calculate the water potentials of the countries in planning the precautions that can be taken against possible water scarcity to be experienced in the future. The most important factor in determining the water potential is the rainfall that varies on spatial and temporal scales. It is difficult to be able to accurately estimate the precipitation and to reveal its spatial distribution. Different methods are used to overcome this difficulty and to predict the precipitation accurately. The geostatistical methods are mostly preferred among these methods. The purposes of this study which was carried out using geostatistical methods are to calculate Turkey's precipitation realistically, to create the right precipitation forecast model, to calculate the annual mean total precipitation for each basin, to determine the amount of water per person in 26 basins, and to evaluate each basin according to Falkenmark water stress index. For this purpose, the annual mean total precipitation data covering 1975–2010 period and population data of villages falling within the boundaries of 26 river basins have been used. A precipitation prediction model was constructed by using Kriging method. The precipitation model was tested with the Cross Validation method. Turkey’s annual mean total precipitation estimation map well reflects the orographic stretch and aspect conditions. Also, the annual mean total amount of precipitation is 559.2 mm and the total amount of precipitation is 433.9 billion m3 across Turkey. This value is very important for a country, which is at the border in terms of available water like Turkey. In the study, the amount of annual mean total precipitation and the amount of water per capita were then calculated for 26 basins. According to Falkenmark water stress index used in the comparison of water potentials, the other 23 basins out of Marmara showing "absolute water scarcity", Küçük Menderes with "water scarcity" and Sakarya basin with “water shortage” in Turkey fall into the category of "no water pressure". The fact that absolute water scarcity and water scarcity are experienced in these three basins where the large part of the population of Turkey live and where there are large investments on industrial and agricultural sectors requires making water use plans for the future especially for these basins.
Journal Section | Research Articles |
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Authors | |
Publication Date | May 18, 2017 |
Acceptance Date | February 15, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 Issue: 68 |
Publisher: Turkish Geographical Society