Groundwater use and policy options for sustainable management in Southern Iraq

An important challenge facing the design of sustainable aquifer management plans is weak primary data on aquifer recharge and use patterns. Weak data limit the ability of policy makers to design efficient aquifer protection plans. The objectives of this article are (1) to estimate groundwater use patterns for an important food-producing region of southern Iraq, the Bahr Al-Najaf Basin; (2) to compare groundwater use patterns with the renewable groundwater supply; and (3) to describe a sustainable groundwater policy alternative to current use patterns. For this study, original data on groundwater pumping were secured for 2006-2011. The data show a pattern of unsustainable groundwater withdrawals. A policy intervention is described in which pumping permits could be assigned to groundwater users to promote sustainable use. Allowing or encouraging the permits to be transferable through trading to higher-valued uses could reduce the economic costs of protecting the aquifer while promoting its sustainable use.