Assessment and Mapping of Proposed Dam Sites in North West Bank, Palestine Using GIS

Most of the countries in the eastern Mediterranean region, including Palestine, are characterized by arid to semi-arid climatic conditions and have limited water resources. This work aims at applying the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess the suitability of proposed dam sites for the construction of earth dams to mitigate flood flows in the Sanour area in Jenin district, north of the West Bank, Palestine. The GIS techniques were utilized in site mapping and characterization to assess different criteria including delineation of drainage network and watershed boundaries, geology, soil, topography, and land use. ArcHydro tools, ArcGIS and SCS-CN methods were employed to model rainfall-runoff on a sub-catchment basis. For the rainy season of 2009/2010, the total runoff of stream network was estimated at about 1.57 million m3. Eventually, two selected dam locations were suggested for flash flood controls. Total rainwater harvesting of about 270,000 m3 is estimated from the two proposed dam sites. This water will also be of great importance to meet the rising demand for agriculture uses and expansion in reclamation.