Developing water technology and management systems is not sufficient to cope with the water shortage, where political decisions might be considered as a critical element in this context. The Euphrates–Tigris basin has been suffering for decades from political instability and mismanagement. The tension over the water allocation that was on the negotiating table since the 1960s ended with no substantial agreement between the riparian countries (Iraq, Turkey and Syria). The objective is to evaluate the impact of the political dimension by creating a conceptual model for the hydropolitical cycle, addressing the importance of the negotiation concepts to reach an agreement; the research also aims to develop a strategy that might support the transformation from conflict to collaboration. The approaches of situation map and systems thinking have been implemented to build the model. The tools of negotiation skills have been adopted to assist the water conflict. The results describe the challenges within different levels and demonstrating the hydropolitical cycle and adding a sustain toolkit to the theory of water conflict and transformation management. Moreover, the paper produces the structure and workflow of establishing the Global Water Security Council.

Using water to enforce a political agenda is a global concern for peacebuilding. Hence, understanding hydro-politics is essential when predicting possible water-based conflict scenarios between riparian countries. A structured theory covering most of the possible events involved in hydro-politics would help assess with a sufficient understanding the reasons and consequences of water conflict. This study proposed a comprehensive theory of hydro-politics, particularly those related to water impoundment and water control through upstream country dams, to identify the root causes of water conflicts between riparian states and the factors of global challenges that arise in conflicts. The framework used eight phases elaborated on the key theories of international relations and demonstrated the possible connection between water conflict/cooperation events and the adopted international relations doctrine at the state level. Each phase illustrates the hydro-political relations between the riparian countries, expected level of conflict, power balance, and possible consequences. Additionally, 21 international case studies were used to illustrate these phases. The theory may assist decision makers in analyzing collective risk and alleviating any expected negative implications of water conflicts.

Groundwater modelling is particularly challenging in arid regions where limited water recharge is available. A fault zone will add a significant challenge to the modelling process. The Western Desert in Iraq has been chosen to implement the modelling concept and calculate the model sensitivity to the changes in aquifer hydraulic properties and calibration by researching 102 observations and irrigation wells. MODFLOW-NWT, which is a Newtonian formulation for MODFLOW-2005 approaches, have been used in this study. Further, the simulation run has been implemented using the Upstream-Weighting package (UPW) to treat the dry cells. The results show sensitivity to the change of the Kx value for the major groundwater discharge flow. Only about 7% of the models from the region can be irrigated utilizing greenhouses supported by external recharge.

Revealing the complex system of transboundary conflicts would help to understand the behavior of states and anticipate potential actions that would collectively reflect the state doctrine. However, a specific approach to the state political doctrine (SPD) for governing transboundary water has not been formalized. The core academic contribution of this research is to formalize the structure of the SPD for transboundary water, which might assist in fostering water cooperation and peacebuilding in one of the most conflict-prone regions—the Middle East and South Africa—by examining the upstream countries’ behavior. Case studies include Turkey in the Euphrates–Tigris Basins, Israel in the Jordan River Basin, and Ethiopia in the Nile River Basin. The theoretical framework presents a new paradigm that systematically links a state’s essential drivers, political philosophy, and potential actions, employing the Hegelian dialectic of thesis–antithesis–synthesis and the three Doctrines of Being, Essence, and Concept to articulate the state’s behavior and its indispensable core principles for survival. It is integrated with Arnold Toynbee’s challenge-and-response theory to analyze upstream motives. This study reviewed 328 documents and pieces of literature alongside 105 expert discussions. The key findings include the three upstream countries embracing different SPDs to address specific challenges at the state level, where Turkey employs the Water-Bank Doctrine, Israel utilizes the Identity-Seeking Doctrine, and Ethiopia adopts the Nation Rise Power Doctrine. Besides the critical external challenges that limit water availability, such as the impact of climate change, the time factor is a crucial key to shifting the bargaining power and impacting the adopted SPD, thereby affecting water diplomacy and regional water cooperation.

Water quality data parameters consist of a large data set. Such a large amount of data incurs great effort in processing and conducting visualization techniques to facilitate the analysis and building of the necessary views for decision makers. The current study included a set of steps to data reduction for 34 parameters during two seasons, at different sites and depths for Mosul Dam Lake, Northern Iraq by using VARCLUS technique. VARCLUS showed that there were seven main clusters during winter with 77% of the total variation in the dataset. Depending on R_ratio results indicating that there are 12 parameters could be used to monitoring the water quality and F, SO₄ and Li are appears to be more important parameters than among them to predict overall the water quality of the lake for this season. During summer eight main clusters with 79% of the total variation displayed result of summer season. B, Na and S were more significant parameters depending on R_ratio among 11 parameters for this season. Each of Li, Ni, S, and total inorganic carbon are dominate parameters during measurement periods. This technique for water quality assessment could be using to reduce by about 64% of water quality data and can support decision-makers by providing an effective and secure tool for managing and monitoring the reservoir.