Civil Engineering / İnşaat Mühendisliği
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/13
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Article Citation - WoS: 7Citation - Scopus: 5Meteorological Drought and Trend Effects on Transboundary River Basins in Afghanistan(Springer, 2023) Hayat, Ehsanullah; Tayfur, GökmenAfghanistan, as a landlocked country located within central and southwestern Asia, has an arid to semi-arid climate. Most of the people are involved in agricultural activities, and a major part of the country's gross domestic product depends on agriculture, but the country has the lowest water storage capacity. Consecutive periods of drought and rapid snowmelt due to climate change have made it more challenging for suitable water resource management practices. This study investigates the historical meteorological drought characteristics across the whole country by employing the Reconnaissance Drought Index for the period 1979-2019 using data from 55 meteorological stations. Trends in precipitation and temperature are also investigated using the Mann-Kendall's and the Sen's slope statistical tests. A four-decadal countrywide drought map is generated. Extreme and severe droughts were observed in 1999 and 2000 across the whole country. Moderate drought events have started to occur with a frequency of 3 to 5 years since 1999. The decadal annual rainfall values in each river basin indicate that rainfall has decreased in the last two decades with a significant decline in 1999-2008. The trends of increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation are indications of rapid climate change in the country, especially in the south, west, and southwest regions. Due to the intensity and frequency of the droughts, river flow rates have decreased; and therefore, there is a need for the upstream and downstream neighboring countries to come to terms with the phenomenon of a new normal in the hydrological cycle and accordingly revise new water sharing treaties.Conference Object Significant Geogenic and Anthropogenic Factors Concerning Contamination of Groundwater Resources in Afghanistan(Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversitesi, 2017) Hayat, Ehsanullah; Baba, AlperIn recent years, the groundwater quality in Afghanistan has raised some concerns as far as very few studies exist about its quality. The main reason behind the little knowledge about groundwater quality is that the country is recovering from decades of war and instability. Being one of the main and reliable sources for drinking, public and private institutions have started some initial investigations from the last few years to examine groundwater quality through the entire country. Still, it will take some time to complete such a broad study. In this article, an extensive review of the literature about the groundwater quality of Afghanistan is conducted where the existing raw data is analyzed as well to obtain some important results and indicate them scientifically.Article Citation - WoS: 39Citation - Scopus: 47Quality of Groundwater Resources in Afghanistan(Springer Verlag, 2017) Hayat, Ehsanullah; Baba, AlperWater is the main source of energy production and economy in Afghanistan where agriculture accounts for more than 50% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Access to safe drinking water is still a problem in the country, which has caused different health issues and even child mortality especially in rural areas. Groundwater is the main source of drinking water in the country. However, little knowledge is available about the quality of groundwater throughout the entire country, and its quality has not been investigated extensively yet like in other countries in the world. While most people think that consuming groundwater is a reliable and safe source of drinking water for health, the United Nations (UN) agencies report various kinds of waterborne diseases and even child mortalities due to drinking water quality in the country. In this article, significant geogenic and anthropogenic factors that play a vital role in groundwater contamination of the country are identified and explained. Different geogenic contaminations such as arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, and boron occur in several areas of Afghanistan that have a direct effect on human health. The water quality mapping for Afghanistan is completed for half of the country, which shows that groundwater is plagued by high levels of fluoride and arsenic in some areas. The water quality mapping of the other half of the country cannot be completed due to security concerns currently. Also, there are different kinds of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and dysentery that can be seen in different parts of the country because of anthropogenic activities which continuously deteriorate groundwater.