USING SOCIO ECONOMIC INDICATORS FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

As recognized internationally the Palestinian territories in among the most deprived countries in the world when it comes to the water resources, this is due to the fluctuating political, social and economic conditions which resulted in very weak institution performance indicators. This paper used international social, economic and Water Poverty Index (WPI) indicators as a common ground for various indicators as an attempt to build future demand scenarios. An increasing gap was found between water supply and demand. Based on Falkenmark (286.20 m3/C/yr), Water Availability Index (-0.39) and basic water needs, it was found that water scarcity is the main constraint of life. WPI-conventional approach showed that availability, access and time were 22.49%, 55.25%, and 6.98% respectively. The corresponding WPI value was 51.63%. However, based on WPI-holistic approach, the values of R, A, C, U and E were found to be 22.50%, 52.83%, 36.00%, 69.00% and 35.36% respectively. Corresponding WPI was 43.14% when equal weighing (0.2) was used. WPI for West Bank was lowest compared to neighboring countries. Moreover, WPI decreases slightly as population increase rapidly. Finally, increases of 100MCM/year and/or GDP slightly shift upward the WPI due to lack of capacity and accessibility to resources.