Consultant in Geospatial Groundwater Analysis

A report explaining the draft framework for well-permitting. A report on proof of concept demonstrating the implementation of the framework, including codes and operational commands.

Remotely

3 months

Background Arab States are among the most water scarce in the world, with 19 States out of 22 below the water scarcity threshold including 13 States below the absolute water scarcity threshold. Freshwater scarcity is aggravated by several factors, including dependency on transboundary water resources, pollution, climate change, non-revenue water losses, inefficient use, increasing demand, insufficient investment, and damage to infrastructure due to conflict. Water scarcity is a significant challenge for sustainable development, as it directly affects the ability to ensure access to water and sanitation for all, while also having important implications for energy and food security, economic development, as well as urban and rural livelihoods. Water security challenges caused by water scarcity also require national and regional security considerations and transboundary water cooperation to achieve global goals. Sustainable groundwater management in the Arab region is central to water security. Groundwater accounts for half of the freshwater needs in Arab States, be it for agriculture, industry, energy or domestic use. The reliance on groundwater is increasing as surface waters become more scarce, polluted and costly to capture in face of climate change impacts and increasing demand. Although groundwater resources in the Arab region are critical for water security, relevant data and information remains limited and inaccessible. ESCWA established the Arab Groundwater Knowledge Platform as a regional knowledge hub to avail geospatial resources and information regarding this critical resource. Lebanon similarly is becoming more and more reliant on groundwater resources with some aquifers already being depleted by over pumping by private wells or being affected by seawater intrusion. Data on groundwater is either unavailable or inaccessible or greatly dispersed across several private and public entities. The Ministry of Energy and Water, the main custodian for groundwater, has a great need to update its groundwater database and develop geospatial analytical capacities of staff to better monitor groundwater resources, support groundwater wells licensing and inform management of the resources. The consultant is intended to support ongoing work to utilize geospatial information system (GIS) technologies for the review, digitization, classification and analysis of maps related to groundwater resources to facilitate analysis for informed decision-making. Duties and Responsibilities • Support update of an interactive WebGIS dashboard and integrate additional monitoring, climate and remote sensing datasets into the platform; • Develop a draft framework for well permitting decision making based on specialized codes that operationalize collected data and information combined with regulatory criteria; • Develop full hydrogeological factsheets for selected national priority national aquifers supported by data and information from platform.

A first-level university degree in geoscience, hydrogeology or related field is required. A Master’s degree in a similar field is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of one year of professional work experience in geoscience and GIS analysis is required. Knowledge in groundwater modelling is desirable. Knowledge of Python desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English and Arabic is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand).

Not available.