Groundwater-based agriculture in arid land: the case of Azraq Basin, Jordan

With limitations in the availability and accessibility of surface water, attention is increasingly directed towards groundwater resources as the most reliable source of fresh water for different sectors. Accordingly, groundwater is over abstracted in many countries of the world. The overexploitation of groundwater renewable and non-renewable aquifers for both urban use and irrigation results in a drop of the water table and, frequently, in a reduction in groundwater quality. This study focuses on the use of groundwater for irrigation purposes in desert areas of the MENA region. The thesis contributes to conserving and sustaining the use of limited groundwater resources in desert agriculture, by analyzing the current unsustainable use of groundwater, focusing on groundwater policy on the one hand, and on the specificities of desert agriculture on the other, with a focus on Azraq basin in Jordan.