Makaleyi göster

North Cyprus has been experiencing water scarcity since 1960 due to the limited freshwater resources, climate impact, and high rate of evaporation. As there are no perennial rivers, the island is largely dependent on groundwater as the main source of supply. The gradual increase in water demand led to the excessive extraction of freshwater from aquifers; this caused seawater intrusion, thus making the scarcity more alarming. Hence, this research was conducted to provide an update on the trend of the water budget of the country. Data were collected between 2000 to 2012 from the relevant authorities and used to achieve the study objective. Statistical relationships and the Blaney-Criddle method were applied to process the data. It was found that domestic water demands increased from 35.9 to 50.4 MCM while conveyance losses declined from 55.8 to 24.2 MCM. Moreover, an assessment conducted for the agricultural economy of 21 groups of crops showed that about 146.7 and 115.1 million USD were generated in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The overall results implied that the trend of water demand for agricultural production fluctuates with time and the general trend of water use is negative owing to the modernization of irrigation systems that minimizes the losses.