Sustainable Fresh Water Resources Management in Northern Kuwait-A Remote Sensing View From Raudatain Basin

The paper presents time and cost effective remote sensing technology to estimate recharge potential of fresh water shallow aquifers for their sustainable management in arid ecosystem. Precipitation measurement of Raudatain Basin in Kuwait from TRMM data has been made and integrated with geological, geomorphological and hyrological data, to estimate the recharge potential of the basin. The total potential recharge to the area is estimated as 333.964 MCM annually. The initial losses are estimated at $60\%$ of the net precipitation .The net available quantity for recharge is 133.58 MCM. For sustainable management of the ground water resources, recharge wells have been proposed in the higher order streams to augment the Raudatain aquifer in Kuwait. If the available quantity of precipitation can be successfully utilized, it will reduce considerable pressure on desalination, which is leading to increased salinity off the coast in Arabian Gulf.