The Water Balance and its Impact on The Hydrological Situationin The Babylon Governorate

Abstract

Babylon Governorate is located in the central part of Iraq. It is astronomically defined between latitudes (-32.7°-33.8°) and longitudes (43.43° - 45.50°). It is geographically defined to the north by Baghdad Governorate, to the east by Wasit Governorate, to the west by Karbala and Anbar Governorates, and to the south by Al-Qadisiyah Governorate. Its area is (5307) km2, constituting (1.2%) of the total area of ​​Iraq, and includes (5) districts. The desert climate prevails, characterized by low rainfall and high temperatures in the summer, which reach more than 50 degrees Celsius, and it is characterized by a warm winter. Therefore, it receives quantities of water and at the same time suffers from evaporation processes. Therefore, it is necessary to study and calculate the water balance, which depends on estimates of the volume of water import, which depends on quantitative relationships between climatic factors and phenomena represented by precipitation and evaporation/transpiration quantities, in order to identify the amount of water surplus and deficit, which is directly affected by some climatic elements, especially rainfall and temperatures, which determine the amount of evaporation. On this basis, the climate data of the Babil Governorate station were relied upon, and this data was distributed to the districts that were studied (Hillah, Al-Mahawil, Al-Musayyab, Al-Hashimiyah, Al-Qasim), which included the area of ​​Babylon Governorate for the period (1992 - 2022). The Ivanov equation was relied upon to calculate the monthly amounts of evaporation/transpiration, as it is one of the inputs of the water balance, which was subtracted from the amount of rainfall to determine the amount of surplus. Water deficit: It was found that the study area suffers from water deficit for all months of the year except for December, which has a water surplus, and this surplus and water deficit are reflected in the hydrological reality in Babylon Governorate.