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Shahbaz Khan (born in Jhelum, Pakistan) is an Australian climatologist and hydrologist, who has worked extensively for UNESCO and also advised governments and universities on issues related to the climate and water management.
Khan has advised the Australian government on water management programs, such as the Prime Minister's 2007 rural water security plan. He coordinated multidisciplinary research programs under the Australian Cooperative Research Centre initiative. [1]
Khan was previously Professor of Hydrology and Director of the International Centre of Water at the Charles Sturt University, Australia, and Research Leader/Director of Irrigated Systems and Rural Water Use areas of CSIRO Australia. [2] He was also part of the team who developed a computer-based early warning system for floods in Pakistan, known as the Flood Early Warning System (FEWS). [3]
Khan developed the SWAGMAN series of mathematical models of irrigation, drought management, groundwater flow and contaminant transport and surface-groundwater interactions. [4]
He is currently Director of the UNESCO Cluster Office in Beijing serving Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea. [5] Previously he was Director of Cluster Office in Jakarta and the Regional Bureau for Science in Asia and the Pacific, served as UNESCO Representative to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Timor Leste. In his previous role at UNESCO he was Chief of Section on Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management at UNESCO in Paris. His work at UNESCO includes the Water Education for Sustainable Development, Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy (HELP), [6] Ecohydrology, Water and Ethics, Energy and Food Nexus within the International Hydrological Programme (IHP). He advises UN member states on environmental policies, review of curricula, and securing multilateral support for research and education projects especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydrologist. Hydrologists are scientists studying earth or environmental science, civil or environmental engineering, and physical geography. Using various analytical methods and scientific techniques, they collect and analyze data to help solve water related problems such as environmental preservation, natural disasters, and water management.
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.
Ecohydrology is an interdisciplinary scientific field studying the interactions between water and ecological systems. It is considered a sub discipline of hydrology, with an ecological focus. These interactions may take place within water bodies, such as rivers and lakes, or on land, in forests, deserts, and other terrestrial ecosystems. Areas of research in ecohydrology include transpiration and plant water use, adaption of organisms to their water environment, influence of vegetation and benthic plants on stream flow and function, and feedbacks between ecological processes, the soil carbon sponge and the hydrological cycle.
The law of water balance states that the inflows to any water system or area is equal to its outflows plus change in storage during a time interval. In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of a system. A system can be one of several hydrological or water domains, such as a column of soil, a drainage basin, an irrigation area or a city.
Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table surface. Groundwater recharge also encompasses water moving away from the water table farther into the saturated zone. Recharge occurs both naturally and through anthropogenic processes, where rainwater and/or reclaimed water is routed to the subsurface.
The Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, formerly the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), is UNESCO’s international scientific cooperative program in water research, water resource management, water education, and capacity- building, and the only broadly based science program of the UN system in this area. The IHP was established in 1975 following the International Hydrological Decade (1965-1974). The program is tailored to the needs of UNESCO's 195 Member States and is implemented in six-year phases, allowing it to adapt to the changing world.
Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is physical. The other is economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands. This includes water needed for ecosystems to function. Regions with a desert climate often face physical water scarcity. Central Asia, West Asia, and North Africa are examples of arid areas. Economic water scarcity results from a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources. It also results from weak human capacity to meet water demand. Many people in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with economic water scarcity.
The aim of water security is to make the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems. The second aim is to limit the risks of destructive impacts of water to an acceptable level. These risks include for example too much water (flood), too little water or poor quality (polluted) water. People who live with a high level of water security always have access to "an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production". For example, access to water, sanitation and hygiene services is one part of water security. Some organizations use the term water security more narrowly for water supply aspects only.
The environmental impact of irrigation relates to the changes in quantity and quality of soil and water as a result of irrigation and the subsequent effects on natural and social conditions in river basins and downstream of an irrigation scheme. The effects stem from the altered hydrological conditions caused by the installation and operation of the irrigation scheme.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to hydrology:
Water resources management in Belize is carried out by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) in most cases. One of the primary challenges the country is facing with regard to water resources management, however, is the lack of coordinated and comprehensive policies and institutions. Furthermore, there are various areas of water management that are not well addressed at all such as groundwater data and provision of supply. Data on irrigation and drainage is not adequately available either. Demand on water resources is growing as the population increases, new economic opportunities are created, and the agriculture sector expands. This increased demand is placing new threats on the quality and quantity of freshwater resources. Other constant challenge for management entities are the constant threat of floods from tropical storms and hurricanes. The Belize National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) is charged with flood management as they occur but it is unclear what institution has responsibility for stormwater infrastructures.
National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) is an autonomous society under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India and has been functioning as a research Institute in the area of hydrology and water resources in the country since 1979 in Roorkee City. Main objectives of the institute are to undertake, support, promote and coordinate systematic and scientific research work in all aspects of Hydrology and Water Resources.
The University of California Center for Hydrologic Modeling (UCCHM) is a campus-wide hydrologic modeling research center, located at the University of California, Irvine. The models and modeling frameworks developed at the center address the urgent environmental and health issues related to water availability, such as how water availability will change in response to external factors like global climate change, how water availability will change with diminishing snow and ice, and how the frequency of hydrologic extremes will affect the state of California. The UCCHM team, made up of faculty, researchers and students, is working towards creating a state-of-the-art integrated model of California water resources that can influence and inform leaders of local, state and regional governments when making water management decisions.
The British Hydrological Society (BHS) was formed in 1983 to advance interest and scholarship in scientific and applied aspects of hydrology and encourage member involvement in relevant national and international professional activities, drawing its membership from academic and operational sectors. It is a learned 'Associated Society' of the Institution of Civil Engineers, based in London, and a registered charity.
Keith John Beven is a British hydrologist and distinguished emeritus professor in hydrology at Lancaster University. According to Lancaster University he is the most highly cited hydrologist.
Caroline King-Okumu is an international development opportunities manager for the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. She was formerly a senior researcher for the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Her major areas of research are dryland ecosystems, economic and environmental assessment, and climate change. She is considered an international expert on land and water management, particularly drylands agriculture. King-Okumu is based in Kenya but is involved in research and projects throughout the world.
Malin Fredrika Sofia Sundberg-Falkenmark was a Swedish hydrologist. Falkenmark is best known for her long-standing work and expertise on the sustainable use of water resources to meet human and ecosystem needs. Her work is characterized by an integration of both natural- and social-science approaches. She is particularly known for developing what is now known as the Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator, an indicator used to measure and describe the water available for human use. She was the daughter of Halvar Sundberg.
Ana Mijic is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Imperial College London who works in systems water management. She has expertise in advanced modelling of integrated water systems, as well as the analysis of processes, planning, resilience and economics.
Petra Döll is a German hydrologist whose research focuses on global water resources and methods for transdisciplinary knowledge integration. She is a professor of hydrology at the Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt.
Hani Sewilam is an Egyptian academic and professor of Water Resources currently serving as minister of Irrigation. He was elected president of African Ministers’ Council of Water in 2023 for a two-year term. He was head of Heribert Nacken Institute and Director of UNESCO Chair in Hydrological Changes and Water Resources Management based in RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
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