Investigation and Analysis the Activity of Al-Hindiya Barrage for the Water Demand Issue in Babylon Province, Iraq

Abstract

The Euphrates River faces seasonal changes in water flow in spring, the formations of snowmelt on mountains start to melt leading to increase water levels. In other hand, the water stream flow tends to shrinkage during the draught in the hot months. Climatic patterns, that contain the droughts and the raising of temperatures, influence the water levels. Al-Hindiya Barrage is the main regulation system that provides the water quantities toward Al-Hilla River stream. The fluctuation in water sharing can negatively impact the required productivity of water. The study aimed to build management system for water sharing in Babylon Province that can be used for improve the plan to conserve water demand in domestic and agriculture requirements. The study processed the analysis and modeling by starting of collecting initial data of the average flow rates in Euphrates River toward the Al-Hindiya Barrage for the past ten years. The data also included the annual production of the main crops according to the areas bounded Al-Hilla River. The population growth was calculated for the years up to 2048 then the daily water demand and the water demand for agriculture were determined for the future years and curve fittings were applied to get the correlation equations. The investigation of the water requirements for the main crops (wheat, barely, and corn) was satisfied. The study used the equations of correlation for daily water demand and for crops production to derive Water Demand Index WDI for summer and winter to enhance the water sharing management in the water distribution system. The water demand for agriculture were estimated for the regions in Babylon province: (Hilla City, Abi Gharaq, Al-Hindiya Barrage, Al Midhatiya, Al Hashimiyah, and Al-Qasim). The study achieved in the explanation of WDI two goals: first was managing of water sharing for better conserving, and second was the availability of extra water quantities to be stored for future using.