Commercial Tanker Water Demand in Amman, JordanA Spatial Simulation Model of Water Consumption Decisions under Intermittent Network Supply
Authored by Christian Klassert, Erik Gawel, Katja Sigel, Bernd Klauer, Heinrich Zozmann
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.3390/w11020254
Sponsors:
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)
United States National Science Foundation (NSF)
Platforms:
NetLogo
Model Documentation:
ODD
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is confronted with a severe freshwater
crisis shaped by excess water demand and intermittent public supply. In
Jordan's capital and most populous city, Amman, the pervasive water
shortage gave rise to private tanker water operations, which transport
groundwater from wells in the vicinity of the city and sell it to urban
consumers. These tanker water markets have received little attention in
the literature up to date, particularly with regard to their relevance
for commercial water users. This paper aims to empirically estimate the
water demand of commercial establishments in Amman under public supply
rationing and to assess to which extent tanker operations contribute to
meeting commercial water needs. Building on a prior simulation model of
residential water consumption, the results of three extensive surveys
concerned with tanker water markets and various geographic data, we
develop a spatial agent-based model of the water consumption behavior of
commercial establishments in different sizes. According to our
estimation, 35-45\% of the overall water volume consumed by the
commercial sector stems from tanker operations, depending on the season.
We find that the local disparities in access to affordable network
water, along with the dispersion of groundwater wells around the city,
result in considerable spatial differences in tanker water consumption.
The outcome of this analysis could be relevant for policy attempting to
enhance freshwater sustainability in Jordan.
Tags
Agent-based modeling
Freshwater sustainability
Commercial water consumption
Intermittent
supply
Tanker water