A Sustainable Water Resources Management Assessment Framework (SWRM-AF) for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions—Part 2: Refining the Conceptual Framework Using the Delphi Technique

Abstract

In the first paper of this two-part series on the development of a sustainable water resources management assessment framework (SWRM-AF), a conceptual framework for arid and semi-arid regions was developed. The framework, rigorously selected through an extensive literature review, consisted of two main parts: components and indicators. This second paper of the series utilizes the Delphi technique as a participatory method to refine the conceptual framework, working toward a final version. This technique employs an iterative questionnaire through which 60 expert stakeholders from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were invited to assess 24 indicators across four components—social, economic, environmental, and infrastructure—and to assign their respective weights. However, while 40 accepted the invitation to be involved, only 33 participated in the first round. This paper identified that 97% of stakeholders in the first round were familiar with sustainability and its three pillars. The final result of the two rounds showed a preference for indicators within the social, economic, and infrastructure components to carry equal weights (i.e., four indicators within each of the three components were assigned 25% weighting each). In contrast, stakeholders identified that indicators within the environmental component should be assigned different weights. Therein, ‘Compliance of wastewater treatment plants with regulations’ and ‘Carbon dioxide emissions from desalination sector’ scored the highest and lowest weightings, accounting for 24.2% and 14.3% of the available weighting, respectively. The validation process resulted in a framework of 17 indicators. Thus, the refined and final version of SWRM-AF is presented and ready for implementation. The next stage of the research, which will keep the audience engaged, is to apply the newly developed SWRM-AF to an arid country and evaluate its effectiveness.