Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Applied Geomatics, cilt.18, sa.1, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
Climate change, the expansion of impervious areas, and poorly planned infrastructures have significantly impacted Cyprus, resulting in severe extreme events, such as floods and droughts. Constructing dams in strategically chosen locations is crucial for effective water management, addressing flood control and water scarcity. The Pedieos River basin, characterized by the longest river with the highest flow capacity, is the most critical basin due to its high population density, agricultural and economic activities, and recurring floods. To tackle these challenges, this study aims to create a dam suitability map and identify potential sites for flood mitigation and water storage, utilizing remotely sensed datasets, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and hydrological models. Initially, the AHP was employed with determined major factors, and a preliminary dam suitability map was produced. The map’s accuracy was subsequently evaluated using existing dam locations, revealing that 93.2% of these dams fell within the moderate to very high suitability zones. Furthermore, the map underwent refinement by applying a Boolean approach that considered six environmental and socioeconomic criteria. This refinement process led to the proposal of eight multi-purpose dams in the Kyrenia and Troodos Mountain ranges. These dams varied in size and capacity, with Dam 3 being the smallest (433,179 m3) and Dam 7 the largest (4,367,512 m3). Lastly, hydrological modeling using HEC-HMS evaluated flood retaining capacities, showing that the dams can effectively handle storms up to a 500-year return period, except for Dam 2, which is limited to a 50-year return period.