Abbas Saleh Al-Omari

University of Jordan | UJ · Water, Energy, and Environment Center

In response to water scarcity in Ajloun governorate, Jordan, the effectiveness of implementing rooftop rainwater harvesting (RRWH) was investigated. In addition, a structured questionnaire was prepared and distributed to randomly selected residents to assess the status of the current RRWH practices in the governorate and the people's perceptions of...

Greywater recycling is viewed as a promising option to help bridge the enlarging gap between supply and demand in water stress areas. However, greywater recycling may negatively impact the strength and flow of the black water, which may complicate its treatment. In this paper, the impact of greywater recycling on the black water strength and flow h...

A model that optimizes agricultural water use to maximize profit subject to constraints of water and land availabilities, maximum satisfaction levels of highly profitable crops, and minimum satisfaction levels of low profitability crops was developed. This model is meant as a management tool at the basin and national levels. Both irrigated and rain...

Amman Zarqa Basin (AZB) is the most developed groundwater basin in the arid region of Jordan and faces water shortage and declining water table due to overexploitation to meet irrigation and domestic water demands. Therefore, groundwater flow modeling for this watershed is a necessary tool for proper management of groundwater resources to protect A...

PREFACE Sustainable development in the already vulnerable MENA region faces serious challenges, among which is climate change. Though the MENA region is not a main contributor to Green House Gases (GHG) emissions, the driver of climate change, it is projected that several vital sectors in the MENA region will be negatively impacted by climate chang...

Assessment of highway runoff quality is necessary to predict its impact on receiving water bodies and therefore take the necessary preventive measures. The goal of this study is to investigate the quality of highway runoff at two locations in Amman city in Jordan. The study addresses three main factors that affect the quality of highway runoff. The...

Pollutants released to the Zarqa River have been identified, quantified, and linked to their sources. The methodology included field observation of the river, collection of available quality data, literature review, and grab sampling. Identified pollution sources to the Zarqa River are wastewater treatment plants, overflow of wastewater pumping sta...

An integrated hydrologic and quality model for Zarqa River basin has been developed based on the Water Evaluation and Planning system. For hydrological modeling, the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number method was integrated into the Water Evaluation And Planning system using its expression builder. Climatological, hydrologic, stream flow, water...

Over the last forty years, Zarqa River water quality has deteriorated seriously as it receives pollutants from several sources along its course. In addition, its flow has diminished, which reflected negatively on its quality. In this study, pollutants released to the river were identified, quantified and linked to their sources, based on field obse...

This paper promotes environmental ethics as a tool for sustainable water resources management in the Arab region. The approach is combination of cultural, ethical, and social marketing that is propagating social learning and have "bottom-up" education and communication functions, as well as "top-down" high level applied research aspects with indust...

This paper investigates the deficit in the irrigation demand in the Jordan Valley for several scenarios of water scarcity and looks into possible adaptation options. For this purpose, the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system is implemented to the Jordan Valley basin. Three scenarios were analyzed by the developed WEAP model which are the Bus...

In arid and semiarid regions such as Jordan, climate change impacts on the balance between available resources and demands are expected to be severe. Climate change is expected to reduce resources and increase demands which will inevitably result in enlarging the gap between supply and demand. Adaptation to these impacts can be achieved either by r...

Despite the many disadvantages associated with the use of chlorine for disinfecting drinking water, chlorination is still the main method used for this purpose worldwide. Low chlorine concentrations in water distribution systems increase health risks whereas high chlorine concentrations are associated with the formation of disinfection by-products...

Abstract Water management and design of irrigation and drainage projects are based on extreme values rather than on average values. Annual daily maximum rainfall corresponding to return periods varying from 2 to 100 years is used by design engineers and hydrologists for economic planning, and design of minor and major hydraulic structures. This res...

The estimation of Non Revenue Water (NRW) is simple and easy for water suppliers who keep records of the system input volume and the billed authorized consumption. However, the breakdown of NRW into its two main components real and administrative which refers to the unbilled authorized consumption plus apparent losses is not an easy or straight for...

The impact of the As Samra wastewater treatment plant upgrade on the quality of the Zarqa River (ZR) water was investigated. Time series data that extend from October 2005 until December 2009 obtained by a state-of-the-art telemetric monitoring system were analyzed at two monitoring stations located 4 to 5 km downstream of the As Samra effluent con...

In arid and semiarid regions such as Jordan, climate change impacts on the balance between available resources and demands are expected to be severe. Climate change is expected to reduce resources and increase demands which will inevitably result in enlarging the gap between supply and demand. Adaptation to these impacts can be achieved either by r...

—Roadways in Amman city face many problems consequent upon poor drainage systems. Evaluation tools are necessary to identify those roads needing improvement in their drainage system, and those needing regular maintenance. This work aims at evaluating drainage conditions in selected roadways in Amman city with the intent of identifying the problems...

Abstract: Insight into the different values of water is essential to support rational decision making about policies, management and investments in the water sector. The main objective of this paper is to estimate an economic value of irrigation water in Jordan by choosing appropriate methodology fit with available data. The Residual Imputation Met...

The response of King Abdulla Canal (KAC) water to the upgrade of As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant which discharges its effluent to the Zarqa River is investigated. Time series quality data that extends between October 2005 and December 2009 obtained by a state of the art telemetric monitoring system were analyzed for COD, EC, TP and TN at two mo...

Sana’a basin, where the city of Sana’a represents more than 80% of its population, suffers from groundwater abstraction counted up to four times of recharge. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is one of the most promising alternatives for supplying freshwater in the face of increasing water scarcity. In this study, the potential quantity of rainwater that...

Insight into the different values of water is essential to support rational decision making about policies, management and investments in the water sector as well as with regard to the efficient allocation of water and water pricing. This holds in particular for water use in agriculture, which has to compete with other sectors of water demand in th...

This paper presented a decision support model namely Water Allocation Model (WAM), where it can be used as a decision support system for irrigated agriculture. WAM has two main goals, first, to provide district and national level planners with a decision support tool for planning agricultural production under various water amounts, qualities, and p...

Assessment of highway runoff quality is necessary to predict its impact on receiving water bodies and therefore take the necessary preventive measures. The goal of this study is to investigate the quality of highway runoff at two locations in Amman city in Jordan. The study addresses three main factors that affect the quality of highway runoff. The...

This study aims at implementing the principles of integrated water resources management at one of the largest water consuming industries in Jordan; the Lafarge Cement Jordan at Al-Fuhais plant which is an important step towards more efficient use of the available water resources and environment protection. This was accomplished by conducting water...

For the purpose of exploring a possible sustainable solution to the water crisis in Jordan, a management model based on WEAP was developed for AZB. The model was calibrated and run for two scenarios which are the reference scenario and the Red Sea Dead Sea Canal (RSDSC) scenario the main features of which is the implementation two large scale proje...

An anaerobic treatment system that consists of an Anaerobic Filter (AF) and an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) in series was built and operated to investigate its performance in treating strong domestic wastewater with high suspended solids fraction under Jordan's ambient temperatures of 25 degrees C for summer and 18 degrees C for winter. T...

A Water Management Support System for Amman Zarqa Basin in Jordan has been developed. The water management support system employs the Water Evaluation and Planning system (WEAP). The water resources and demands in the basin were modeled as a network of supply and demand nodes connected by links. The model was calibrated for the year 2005 data and t...

A model that determines nodal demands by making tracer concentration measurements at specific nodes is developed. The model minimizes the difference between calculated and measured tracer concentrations to determine the unknown demands. Even-, over-, and under-determined cases are considered. For the purpose of verifying the model, tracer concentra...

An evaluation of a potential water supply for the city of Amman, Jordan was conducted for five tributaries (wadis) to the Dead Sea. The total average discharge of approximately 0.85 m3/s (26.8 million cubic metres (MCM)/year) represents a significant quantity of water given the limited fresh-water supplies in the region. Although the raw water conc...

This study investigates water quality in roof storage tanks in Amman and the effect of storage tanks' cleaning on water quality and consumer uses. Chlorine concentrations at a few storage tanks were low. All sampled tanks were free of fecal and total coliform. Cleaning roof storage tanks helps keep total heterotrophic plate count (THPC) at low leve...

In this paper, the long-term hydrological responses (runoff and actual evapotranspiration) of a semi-arid basin to climate changes were analyzed. This basin is the Zarqa River (Jordan). The climate changes were imposed with twelve hypothetical scenarios. Two of these scenarios were based on the predictions of general circulation models (GCMs), name...

In this project 52 training courses in different aspects of water and waste water were prepared and delivered to managers in the ministry of water and irrigation. The courses were prepared and delivered in cooperation between Washington State University and University of Jordan, Hashemite University and Jordan university of Science and Technology.

The suitability of the effluent from a constructed wetland that treats domestic wastewater for irrigation was evaluated based on Ayers and Westcot and WHO guidelines for interpretation of water quality for irrigation. Other guidelines and regulations such as State Reuse Regulations and Guidelines and recommended revised microbiological guidelines f...

Abstract – Water scarcity as a result of long, frequent droughts and high population growth is so severe in some of the Mediterranean countries that it threats sustainable development. Effective exploitation of existing resources, implementation of new technologies such as advanced wastewater treatment for secondary treated effluent, and desalinati...

This paper presents a Water Allocation Model (WAM), where it can be used as a decision support system for irrigated agriculture in Ghor Al-Safi. WAM has two main goals, first, to provide district and national level planners with a decision support tool for planning agricultural production under various water amounts, qualities, and prices; and seco...

Abstract The water shortages in Jordan have made the urban water problem a central policy issue. The government directed all concerned agencies to develop a short, medium and long-term strategy for addressing the impending water crisis. The growth in water demand in Jordan has led to the exhaustion of surface water and to the over-extraction of gr...

The City of Amman, Jordan, has been subjected to persistent increase in road traffic due to overall increase in prosperity, fast development and expansion of economy, travel and tourism. This study investigates traffic noise pollution in Amman. Road traffic noise index L10(1 h) was measured at 28 locations that cover most of the City of Amman. Nois...

The problem of water scarcity in Jordan has resulted in enormous pressures on the already limited renewable water sources. As a result, reuse of water is becoming an essential component of the water management trends being adopted. This study aims at evaluating the potential of greywater availability and the various components constituting sources...

Abstract— Water scarcity mitigation is an important challenge facing many countries around the world, including states in the Mediterranean region. Population growth is a particular driver of increasing water stress and in Mediterranean countries is forecast to increase by up to 150% in the next decades. Water demand will consequently increase acro...

Five mathematical models that describe the formation of different Trihalomethane (THM) species as well as Total Trihalomethane (TTHM) are developed for Zai water treatment plant in Amman/Jordan based on experimental data. Predictors used in these models are contact time, chlorine dose, total organic carbon, bromide ion concentration, and pH. Temper...

A model that directly estimates HW coefficients for pipe networks by making tracer concentration measurements at selected nodes is developed utilizing the inverse method. The model considers even-, over- and under-determined cases, depending on the number of measurements and estimated parameters. For the purpose of model verification, tracer concen...

A mathematical model that expresses Total trihalomethane (TTHM) concentration in terms of initial chlorine concentration, total organic carbon, bromide ion concentration, contact time, and pH is developed for Zai water treatment plant which supplies water to Jabal Amman. The developed mathematical model is for constant temperature of 20C. To adjust...

The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to test the ability of WaterCad, which simulates chlorine concentrations throughout water supplies, in predicting chlorine concentrations in the Jabal Amman distribution system and hence provide a tool to water supply operators in Jordan that helps them to better manage chlorine concentrations thr...

The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to test the ability of WaterCad, which simulates chlorine concentrations throughout water supplies, in predicting chlorine concentrations in the Jabal Amman distribution system and hence provide a tool to water supply operators in Jordan that helps them to better manage chlorine concentrations thr...

The use of subsurface flow constructed wetlands for treating domestic wastewater in Jordan is described. The objective was to study the performance of subsurface flow constructed wetlands as a low-cost technology for treating domestic wastewater. Results show that subsurface flow constructed wetlands are capable of reducing biochemical oxygen deman...

A model that directly determines the required source concentration(s) to meet specified chlorine residuals at selected nodes is developed for unsteady flows. The model considers even, over-, and underdetermined cases in which the number of available equations is equal to, greater than, or less than the number of unknowns, respectively. The model co...

A model that estimates source concentration and chlorine decay coefficient for steady state hydraulic conditions utilizing inverse method is developed. The model considers even - determined, over - determined, and under- determined cases. The model is then applied to an example network from literature. From the computed results, it is concluded tha...