Background
Objectives
Urban Monitoring
Network
Spring Monitoring
In-Storm
Field Observations
Sprinkling
Experiments
Large Scale
Rainfall-Runoff Modelling
Database
Project Members |
Pronounced urban
development in the Palestinian city of Ramallah on top of the karstic Mountain aquifer (a
jointly, Israeli-Palestinian, used fresh water resource) is bound to
- increase surface flow at the expense of groundwater recharge
- deteriorate surface water quality
- affect groundwater quality by direct pollutant release into the
ground (leaky pipes, cesspits) or
to surface drainage systems from which contaminated runoff may eventually percolate.
While the hydrological impacts of urban development are relatively
well understood in Western Europe and North America, very little is known about these
impacts in the completely different environments of Middle Eastern towns located on dry
karstic terrain.
![Urban development in Ramallah](urbaniz.jpg)
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