The upper part of Faria catchment (139 km²) is a typical semi-arid karst catchment in the Eastern Mediterranean, where hitherto data availability limited accurate assessments of renewable water resources. Newly available six-year of rainfall and runoff data and thorough field campaigns enabled the application of to apply physically-based and spatially the -distributed TRAIN-ZIN model. Best model runs were selected applying seven hydrological signatures. Modelling results confirmed available literature estimations and empirical equations. Mean annual actual evapotranspiration was about 70% of precipitation, recharge 30 % and runoff 1%. Aggregated model results also supported aridity indicators with dominating hortonian (infiltration-excess) overland flow, indirect groundwater recharge and evaporation during dry months. In total, maximum annual water availability was in the same order of magnitude as actual demand estimations (23 MCM). However, spatial variability, inter-annual variations and karst aspects highlighted the vulnerability of the water resources.

Title

Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies

Publisher

ELSEVIER

Publisher Country

Netherlands

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

None

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

4

Year

2015

Pages

487-501