Application of Water Poverty Index (WPI) in Special Analysis of Water Stress in Kurdistan Region-Iraq

Abstract

Kurdistan region-Iraq can be considered the richest area in the MENA for water availability per capita. However, water management, economic situation, sustainability, and utilisation of water are controversial. Water Poverty Index (WPI) is a holistic tool to find the link between, socio-economic development, livelihood, water availability, and water management. In addition, it is an effective method for comparison between different regions and countries. In this work, depending on available data of Kurdistan region-Iraq, and literature review, 14 elements (indicators) have been used to extract WPI score of the study area. The WPI has been used to find water utilisation, and water stress level in Kurdistan region. Then, the result of this work has been compared with WPI scores in some countries in the MENA. The work has shown that the WPI score of the study area is 52. The work has found that, although water availability per person/year in Kurdistan region is more than all countries in the MENA, the WPI score of the study area is lower than its neighbours like Iran, and Turkey. The low scores of Kurdistan region regarding WPI are because of many factors like variation of water income, mismanagement of water resources, and water use.