Use of Geomatic Approaches to Characterize Arqa River Basin: A Typical Coastal Lebanese River

Abstract

Water resources in Lebanon are one of the major threatened natural resources, since they spread on different geographic locations creating a network of permanent and temporary watercourses that govern the socio-economy and livelihood. However, lately, these watercourses, and certainly the rivers and streams, are witnessing unfavorable impacts that make them with less benefit and use. In addition, most of the Lebanese river basins have not been characterized due to the newly physical challenges of climate change and the human interference. Hence, characterization of the Lebanese river basins must be obtained in order to monitor the changing of physical and anthropogenic parameters. This can help for better conservation and adaptation approaches, notably for climate change. Arqa River, a coastal Lebanese river in North Lebanon is a typical example. In this study, Arqa River basin and the occupied streams among it have been studied using new advanced geomatic techniques. These techniques are based on the treatment of digital geo-spatial data in systematic approaches. ArcGIS is the software which is used to elaborate and manipulate (data interrelation, measures, overlapping, ordering, etc.) the geo-spatial data. Thus, the geometric and morphometric analysis were obtained for the river catchment and the existing tributaries. This will be a primary tool for further applications including water resources management in the river system. This can be utilized in the execution of dams, mountain lakes, man-made channels and in mapping flood-prone areas. In addition, the obtained characterization of this basin will be helpful in mapping erosion processes and estimation of the infiltration capacity, plus monitoring surface water flow. It is a typical approach of analysis that can be applied for the rest of Lebanese river systems in order to attain a better water resources management. This study shows that the use of geomatic techniques is a very helpful tool in the study of basins morphometry, and it can give valuable measures which cannot be applicable by conventional tools of analysis. In addition, it serves in reducing time of analysis with least cost, as well as it can cover rugged and remote areas.