An-Najah Staff

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the best sustainable water management options for future agriculture in the lower Jordan Valley (LJV) area of Palestine. LJV is the most important agricultural area in Palestine. Detailed -long term water management scenario analysis up to the year 2025 was conducted using the computer water planning model 'WEAP". Seven potential future water management options were tested including: optimal water use, optimal land use, supplementary water resources including water harvesting and treated wastewater reuse, virtual water trading, food security, political status, and poverty linkage and socioeconomic linkage water management option. Model simulations indicated that one water management scenario or option would not lead to an optimal water management in agriculture in the LJV and a combination of options would better achieve this goal. Accordingly a combination of the first three scenarios (water and land use efficiency and supplementary water resources scenarios) along with stable political solution (scenario number seven) is the best combination to achieve better future water management in Palestinian agriculture in the LJV. The results obtained demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of simulation analysis using WEAP model.