Assessment of water exploitation indexes based on water accounting

Tesis por compendio[EN] New European policies established in the Blueprint (EC, 2012) propose the use of water accounting for the allocation and reservation of water resources. This course correction contrasts with the calculation of water balances that has been used since the last century in Spain for this purpose. According to the European Commission (EC, 2015) the difference between the two approaches is the inclusion of the economic component. This argument is indisputable, but it would also add that both "asset accounts" and the physical supply and use tables require a type of information that had not been considered until now. In view of this new challenge, the use of hydrological and water resources management models is essential. This thesis aims to implement a methodology for the transition between water balances and water accounting considering the special characteristics of the Mediterranean basin (with a high degree of regulation and the use of unconventional resources). In the same line, it raises the need for the definition of an indicator to assess the performance of a water resources system taking into consideration the origin of the water resources as a measure of the degree of stress suffered by the systems. This thesis is presented by publications and seeks to address the methodologies and indicators used to date in the planning and management of water resources. First, the state of the art is analyzed in the first publication of the thesis, as detailed in Annex 1. The second publication, analyzes the key elements for formulating water balances that will determine, to a large extent, results obtained, as detailed in Annex 2. The third publication, in Annex 3, tries to explain how in those basins where the use of water resources is close, or even higher, to their availability, the use of balances based solely on variables such as rainfall and temperature are not sufficient. And due to the high regulation of water resources they should also include the results of water management models. This approach contrasts with the proposals made by the countries of northern Europe focused mainly on hydrological models. In order to address the water accounting approach a pilot case located in the Andalusian Mediterranean basins was analysed. This work is presented in the fourth publication, reproduced in Annex 4. This initial analysis has served to highlight the need to develop a complementary software that allows unify the results of hydrological and water management models for calculating water accounts. The development of this software, which has been called AQUACCOUNTS, and its application to a general case with all the detail required in water resources planning has been published in the fifth article presented in Annex 5, taking the Júcar River Basin as a case study. From these results, a classification of water exploitation systems was carried out according to their degree of stress. These results were compared with the ones in Annex 2 which proposes the use of the indicator of exploitable water resources and which has been obtained with the traditional water balances approach. Finally, Annex 6 includes the last publication of this thesis focused on the effects of climate change in the Po River Basin (Italy) by using water accounting. This work has served to identify those key elements within the simulation models and opens the door to improve them within the approach proposed by the SEEA-W. This thesis aims to collaborate with those responsible for European policies in water resource planning for the application of those methodologies and tools appropriate to each territory.[ES] Las nuevas políticas europeas establecidas en el Blueprint (EC, 2012) proponen el uso de la contabilidad del agua para la asignación y reserva de los recursos. Esta corrección del rumbo (cambio de paradigma) contrasta con el cálculo de balances que se ha venido utilizando desde el siglo pasado en España para dicho fin. Según la Comisión Europea (EC, 2015) la diferencia entre ambos planteamientos se halla en la inclusión de la componente económica. Este argumento es indiscutible, pero habría que añadir además que tanto las "asset accounts" como las tablas físicas de uso y suministro requieren un tipo de información que hasta ahora no se había considerado. A la vista de este nuevo reto, el uso de los modelos hidrológicos y de gestión de los recursos hídricos se hace imprescindible. Con esta tesis se pretende llevar a cabo una metodología que permita la transición entre los balances hídricos y las cuentas del agua teniendo en cuenta las especiales características de las cuencas mediterráneas (con un elevado grado de regulación y el uso de recursos no convencionales). En esta misma línea se plantea la definición de un indicador que trate de discutir el comportamiento conjunto de un sistema de recursos hídricos y que tenga en consideración el origen de los recursos empleados como medida del grado de estrés de los sistemas. Esta tesis se presenta por compendio de publicaciones y trata de abordar las metodologías e indicadores utilizados hasta la fecha en la planificación y gestión de los recursos hídricos. En primer lugar se analiza el estado del arte que constituye la primera publicación de la tesis, tal y como se detalla en el Anexo 1. La segunda publicación, analiza los elementos clave para la formulación de balances que determinarán, en gran medida, los resultados obtenidos, tal y como se detalla en el Anexo 2. La tercera publicación, en el Anexo 3, trata de explicar cómo en las cuencas donde el aprovechamiento de los recursos es cercano o incluso superior a su disponibilidad, el uso de los balances basados únicamente en variables como la precipitación y la temperatura no son suficientes, sino que debido a la alta regulación de los recursos debe recurrirse además a los modelos de gestión. Este planteamiento contrasta con las propuestas planteadas por los países del norte de Europa centrados principalmente en los modelos hidrológicos. Para abordar el tema se ha partido de un caso piloto localizado en las cuencas mediterráneas andaluzas. Este trabajo se presenta en la cuarta publicación, que se reproduce en el Anexo 4. A partir de este análisis inicial, se vio la necesidad de desarrollar un software complementario que permitiese unificar tanto la información de partida como los resultados de los modelos hidrológicos y de gestión para el cálculo de la contabilidad del agua. El desarrollo de este software, que ha sido denominado AQUACCOUNTS, y su aplicación a un caso general con todo el detalle requerido en planificación se ha publicado en el quinto artículo que se presenta en el Anexo 5, siendo la Demarcación Hidrográfica del Júcar el caso de estudio. A partir de los resultados obtenidos se ha llevado a cabo una clasificación de los sistemas de explotación según su grado de desarrollo comparándose con los resultados obtenidos en el Anexo 2 que propone el uso del indicador de recursos explotables y que se ha obtenido con las metodologías tradicionales de balances. Por último, el Anexo 6 recoge la última publicación de esta tesis en la que se analizan los efectos del cambio climático en la cuenca del río Po (Italia) mediante el uso de la contabilidad del agua. Este trabajo ha servido para identificar aquellos elementos clave dentro de los modelos de simulación y abre las puertas a una mejora de los mismos dentro del enfoque planteado por el SEEA-W. Esta tesis pretende colaborar con los responsables de las políticas europeas en materia de planificación para la apl[CA] Les noves polítiques europees establides en el Blueprint (EC, 2012) proposen l'ús de la comptabilitat de l'aigua per a l'assignació i reserva dels recursos hídrics. Esta correcció del rumb (o canvi de paradigma) contrasta amb el càlcul de balanços que s'ha utilitzat des del segle passat a Espanya per a aquesta finalitat. Segons la Comissió Europea (EC, 2015) la diferència entre ambdós plantejaments es troba en la inclusió de la component econòmica. Este argument és indiscutible, però caldria afegir a més que tant les "asset accounts" com les taules físiques d'ús i subministrament requerixen un tipus d'informació que fins ara no s'havia considerat. A la vista d'este nou repte, l'ús dels models hidrològics i de gestió dels recursos hídrics es fa imprescindible. Amb esta tesi es pretén dur a terme una metodologia que permeta la transició entre els balanços hídrics i els comptes de l'aigua tenint en compte les especials característiques de les conques mediterrànies (amb un elevat grau de regulació i l'ús de recursos no convencionals). En esta mateixa línia es planteja la definició d'un indicador que tracte de discutir el comportament conjunt d'un sistema de recursos hídrics i que tinga en consideració l'origen dels recursos empleats com a mesura del grau d'estrés dels sistemes. Esta tesi es presenta per compendi de publicacions i tracta d'abordar les metodologies i indicadors utilitzats fins a la data en la planificació i gestió dels recursos hídrics. En primer lloc s'analitza l'estat de l'art que constituïx la primera publicació de la tesi, tal com es detalla en l'Annex 1. La segona publicació, analitza els elements clau per a la formulació de balanços que determinaran, en gran manera, els resultats obtinguts, tal com es detalla en l'Annex 2. La tercera publicació, en l'Annex 3, tracta d'explicar com en les conques on l'aprofitament dels recursos és pròxim o inclús superior a la seua disponibilitat, l'ús dels balanços basats únicament en variables com la precipitació i la temperatura no són suficients, sinó que a causa de l'alta regulació dels recursos ha de recórrer-se a més als models de gestió. Este plantejament contrasta amb les propostes plantejades pels països del nord d'Europa centrats principalment en el models hidrològics. Per a abordar el tema s'ha partit d'un cas pilot localitzat en les conques mediterrànies andaluses. Este treball es presenta en la quarta publicació, que es reproduïx en l'Annex 4. A partir d'aquest anàlisi inicial, es va veure la necessitat de desenrotllar una ferramenta complementaria que permetera unificar tant la informació de partida com els resultats dels models hidrològics i de gestió per al càlcul de la comptabilitat de l'aigua. El desenrotllament d'esta ferramenta, que ha sigut denominat AQUACCOUNTS, i la seua aplicació a un cas general amb tot el detall requerit en planificació s'ha publicat en el quint article que es presenta en l'Annex 5, sent la Demarcació Hidrogràfica del Xúquer el cas d'estudi. A partir dels resultats obtinguts s'ha dut a terme una classificació dels sistemes d'explotació segons el seu grau de desenrotllament comparant-se amb els resultats obtinguts en l'Annex 2 que proposa l'ús de l'indicador de recursos explotables i que s'ha obtingut amb les metodologies tradicionals de balanços. Finalment, l'Annex 6 arreplega l'última publicació d'esta tesi en què s'analitzen els efectes del canvi climàtic en la conca del riu Po (Itàlia) per mitjà de l'ús de la comptabilitat de l'aigua. Este treball ha servit per a identificar aquells elements clau dins dels models de simulació i obri les portes a una millora dels mateixos dins de l'enfocament plantejat pel SEEA-W. Esta tesi pretén col·laborar amb els responsables de les polítiques europees en matèria de planificació per a l'aplicació d'aquelles metodologies i ferramentes més adequades a cada territori.Pedro Monzonís, M. (2016). Assessment of water exploitation indexes based on water accounting [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/71677TESISCompendi

Análisis de metodologías de balances hídricos en sistemas complejos en el contexto europeo de la Planificación hidrológica. Aplicación a la cuenca del Júcar

[EN] The Water Framework Directive establishes a framework for Community action in the field of water policy whose main objective is to achieve good status of all water bodies. Its transposition into Spanish law has tried to implement in developing basin hydrological plans by applying Water Planning Instruction. A major challenge facing Water Plans is the balance sheet adjustment of resources and demands, taking into account the rights and existing priorities, compliance with environmental objectives. The calculation of balances at first glance seems simple, but in practice it is complicated due to various reasons such as insufficient and poor quality of the data, or the different options in the selection of data to be considered. Another serious problem is the loss of information due to the variable aggregation that generates hidden problems on the watershed management. The methodologies used in Spain are focused on the evaluation of available resources by using optimization techniques, likening it to the maximum demand that can be supplied according to warranty criteria. On the other hand, European methodologies make the balancing approach by gathering information emulating the hydrologic cycle in a territory. Taking as a study case the Jucar river basin, different estimations of the available resources have been obtained according to the origin of the series contributions, the period simulation length and the warranty criteria used to consider all demands satisfied. The results obtained present a lot of diversity, due to the system complexity. The European Union is looking for finding an indicator system to be equally valid for all the country members’ basins. This approach may not be valid in countries like Spain, where the long tradition in planning and management of water resources can be more demanding than EU itself. It has to be taken into account that the EU is made from countries with different physical characteristics, different hydrology and economies based on various productive sectors and with differences on demands and infrastructures. In this situation, a first step may be to conduct a preliminary classification of the regions that comprise the EU in order to apply different methodologies that are appropriate to the physical and socioeconomic characteristics of each of the member countries.[ES] La Directiva Marco del Agua establece un marco comunitario de actuación en el ámbito de la política de aguas y cuyo objetivo principal es alcanzar el buen estado de las masas de agua. Su trasposición a la legislación española se ha tratado de implementar en la elaboración de los Planes Hidrológicos de cuencas mediante la aplicación de la Instrucción de Planificación Hidrológica. Una importante dificultad que afrontan los Planes Hidrológicos es el ajuste de los balances de recursos y demandas, teniendo en cuenta los derechos y prioridades existentes, con el cumplimiento de los objetivos ambientales. El cálculo de balances a priori parece sencillo, pero se complica en la práctica debido a la insuficiencia y mala calidad de los datos, o a las diferentes opciones en la selección de la información. Además la agregación de variables encubre una pérdida de información que oculta los problemas a que se enfrenta la gestión de una cuenca. Las metodologías utilizadas en España se han centrado en la evaluación del recurso disponible mediante el empleo de técnicas de optimización, asimilándolo a la máxima demanda que puede ser suministrada atendiendo a un criterio de garantía. Por otro lado, las metodologías europeas tratan de emular el ciclo hidrológico en un territorio. Tomando como caso de estudio la cuenca del río Júcar se han obtenido diferentes estimaciones del recurso disponible atendiendo al origen de las series de aportaciones, la longitud del periodo de simulación y el criterio de garantía empleado para considerar satisfechas las demandas. Los resultados obtenidos son muy dispares dada la complejidad del sistema. Desde la Unión Europea se busca encontrar un sistema de indicadores que sea igualmente válido para todas las cuencas de los países miembros. Este planteamiento puede no ser válido en países como España, donde la larga tradición en planificación y gestión de recursos hídricos puede llegar a ser más exigente que la propia UE. Hay que tener presente que la UE está formada por países con diferentes características físicas y con diferencias tanto de infraestructuras como de demandas. Ante esta situación, un primer paso puede ser realizar una clasificación previa de las regiones con el fin de aplicar diferentes metodologías que se adecuen a las características de cada uno de los países miembros.Pedro Monzonís, M. (2013). Análisis de metodologías de balances hídricos en sistemas complejos en el contexto europeo de la Planificación hidrológica. Aplicación a la cuenca del Júcar. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/43508Archivo delegad

The use of AQUATOOL DSS applied to the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW)

[EN] Currently, water accounts are one of the next steps to be implemented in European River Basin Management Plans. Building water accounts is a complex task, mainly due to the lack of common European definitions and procedures. For their development, when data is not systematically measured, simulation models and estimations are necessary. The main idea of this paper is to present a new approach which enables the combined use of hydrological models and water resources models developed with AQUATOOL Decision Support System (DSS) to fill in the physical water supply and use tables and the asset accounts presented in the System of Economic and Environmental Accounts for Water (SEEAW). The case study is the Vélez River Basin, located in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. In addition to obtaining the physical water supply and use tables and the asset accounts in this river basin, we present here the indicators as a result thereof. These indicators cover many critical aspects of water management, showing a general description of the river basin and allowing decision-makers to characterize the pressures on water resources. As a general conclusion, the union of AQUATOOL DSS and SEEAW will provide more complete information to decision-makers and enables to introduce these methodological decisions in order to guarantee consistency and comparability of the results between different river basins.The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, suggestions and positive feedback. The authors also wish to thank the Water and Environment team of INTECSA-INARSA and the Council of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment of the Regional Government of Andalusia for the data provided in developing this study and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for its financial support through the NUTEGES project (CGL2012-34978). We also value the support provided by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program in financing the projects ENHANCE (FP7-ENV-2012, 308438), WAMCD (EC-DG Environment No. 07.0329/2013/671291/SUB/ENV.C.1), LIFE ALBUFERA (LIFE12 ENV/ES/000685), IMPREX (H2020-WATER-2014-2015, 641811) and Research Group RNM-308 of the Andalusian Government.Pedro-Monzonis, M.; Jiménez Fernández, P.; Solera Solera, A.; Jiménez Gavilán, P. (2016). The use of AQUATOOL DSS applied to the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW). Journal of Hydrology. 533:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.11.034S11453

Adapting water accounting for integrated water resource management. The Júcar Water Resource System (Spain)

[EN] An increase in water demands, exacerbated by climate change and the tightening of environmental requirements, leads to a reduction in available water resources for economic uses. This situation poses challenges for water resource planning and management. Water accounting has emerged as an appropriate tool to improve transparency and control in water management. There are multiple water accounting approaches, but they generally involve a very exhaustive list of accounted concepts. According to our findings in this research, one of the best water accounting methodologies is the Australian Water Accounting Standard. However, its implementation for integrated water resource planning and management purposes calls into questioning the amount of information and level of detail necessary for the users of water accounts. In this paper, we present a different method of applying the Australian Water Accounting Standard in relation to water resource management, which improves its utility. In order to compare the original approach and that proposed here, we present and discuss an application to the Júcar Water Resource System, in eastern Spain. 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Authors would like to thank Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for its Support Programme for Research and Development, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for its financial support through the projects SCARCE (Consolider-Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00065) and NUTEGES (CGL2012-34978). We also value the support provided by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program in financing the projects SIRIUS (FP7-SPACE-2010-1, 262902), DROUGHT-R&SPI (FP7-ENV-2011, 282769) and ENHANCE (FP7-ENV-2012, 308438). We would also like to express our gratitude to the Jucar River Basin District Agency (Spanish Ministry of Environment) for the data provided to develop this study. Finally, thanks to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Adelaide, Australia, for hosting one of the authors for a research stay. This paper reflects only the authors' viewpoints and the mentioned institutions are not liable for any use that may be made of the information herein contained.Momblanch Benavent, A.; Andreu Álvarez, J.; Paredes Arquiola, J.; Solera Solera, A.; Pedro Monzonís, M. (2014). Adapting water accounting for integrated water resource management. The Júcar Water Resource System (Spain). Journal of Hydrology. (519):3369-3385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.10.0023369338551

La calidad del agua en el tramo bajo del río Turia y sus implicaciones sobre el abastecimiento a Valencia

Este trabajo analiza la calidad del agua en el tramo final del río Turia, en el que se ubica una de las tomas de abastecimiento de la ciudad de Valencia. Para el desarrollo del modelo de calidad de aguas se utilizó la herramienta GESCAL, que es un módulo del sistema soporte de decisión AQUATOOL que permite la modelación de contaminantes convencionales y tóxicos. A partir del modelo desarrollado se realizaron una serie de simulaciones con variaciones en los caudales de salida del embalse de Loriguilla. Los perfiles de concentraciones de nitratos obtenidos muestran un aumento muy significativo entre los puntos de Pedralba y Aguas arriba de Granolera. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que con el actual régimen de caudales de salida del embalse de Loriguilla las concentraciones de nitratos en el punto de toma del abastecimiento a Valencia se pueden mantener en torno a los 30mg/l. Este trabajo analiza la calidad del agua en el tramo final del río Turia, en el que se ubica una de las tomas de abastecimiento de la ciudad de Valencia. Para el desarrollo del modelo de calidad de aguas se utilizó la herramienta GESCAL, que es un módulo del sistema soporte de decisión AQUATOOL que permite la modelación de contaminantes convencionales y tóxicos. A partir del modelo desarrollado se realizaron una serie de simulaciones con variaciones en los caudales de salida del embalse de Loriguilla. Los perfiles de concentraciones de nitratos obtenidos muestran un aumento muy significativo entre los puntos de Pedralba y Aguas arriba de Granolera. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que con el actual régimen de caudales de salida del embalse de Loriguilla las concentraciones de nitratos en el punto de toma del abastecimiento a Valencia se pueden mantener en torno a los 30mg/l.Este trabajo fue parcialmente financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España (MCIN) y la Agencia Española de Investigación (AEI) mediante los proyectos de investigación RESPHIRA (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, PID2019-106322RB-I00) y AGREEMAR (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, PCI2022-133001), y el contrato Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación IJC2019-038848-I (MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033)

Linking Pan-European data to the local scale for decision making for global change and water scarcity within water resources planning and management

[EN] This study focuses on a novel type of methodology which connects Pan-European data to the local scale in the field of water resources management. This methodology is proposed to improve and facilitate the decision making within the planning and management of water resources, taking into account climate change and its expected impacts. Our main point of interest is focused on the assessment of the predictability of extreme events and their possible effects, specifically droughts and water scarcity. Consequently, the Júcar River Basin was selected as the case study, due to the ongoing water scarcity problems and the last drought episodes suffered in the Mediterranean region. In order to study these possible impacts, we developed a modeling chain divided into four steps, they are: i) data collection, ii) analysis of available data, iii) models calibration and iv) climate impact analysis. Over previous steps, we used climate data from 15 different regional climate models (RCMs) belonging to the three different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) coming from a hydrological model across all of Europe called E-HYPE. The data were bias corrected and used to obtain statistical results of the availability of water resources for the future (horizon 2039) and in form of indicators. This was performed through a hydrological (EVALHID), stochastic (MASHWIN) and risk management (SIMRISK) models, all of which were specifically calibrated for this basin. The results show that the availability of water resources is much more enthusiastic than in the current situation, indicating the possibility that climate change, which was predicted to occur in the future has already happened in the Júcar River Basin. It seems that the so called Effect 80 , an important decrease in water resources for the last three decades, is not well contemplated in the initial data.The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, suggestions and positive feedback. All remaining errors, however, are solely the responsibility of the authors. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Jucar River Basin Authority - Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery, Food and Environment) for providing data to develop this study. The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economyand Competitiveness for its financial support through the NUTEGES project (CGL2012-34978) and ERAS project (CTM2016-77804-P). We also value the support provided by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program in financing the projects ENHANCE (FP7-ENV-2012, 308438), AGUAMOD (Interreg V-B Sudoe 2016), SWICCA (ECMRWF-Copernicus-FA 2015/C3S_441-LOT1/SMHI) and IMPREX (H2020-WATER-2014-2015, 641811).Suárez-Almiñana, S.; Pedro Monzonís, M.; Paredes Arquiola, J.; Andreu Álvarez, J.; Solera Solera, A. (2017). Linking Pan-European data to the local scale for decision making for global change and water scarcity within water resources planning and management. The Science of The Total Environment. 603-604:126-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.259S126139603-60

Water accounting for stressed river basins based on water resources management models

[EN] Water planning and the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) represent the best way to help decision makers to identify and choose the most adequate alternatives among other possible ones. The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEA-W) is displayed as a tool for the building of water balances in a river basin, providing a standard approach to achieve comparability of the results between different territories. The target of this paper is to present the building up of a tool that enables the combined use of hydrological models and water resources models to fill in the SEEA-W tables. At every step of the modelling chain, we are capable to build the asset accounts and the physical water supply and use tables according to SEEA-W approach along with an estimation of the water services costs. The case study is the Jucar River Basin District (RBD), located in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula in Spain which as in other many Mediterranean basins is currently water-stressed. To guide this work we have used PATRICAL model in combination with AQUATOOL Decision Support System (DSS). The results indicate that for the average year the total use of water in the district amounts to 15,143 hm3/year, being the Total Water Renewable Water Resources 3909 hm3/year. On the other hand, the water service costs in Jucar RBD amounts to 1634 million per year at constant 2012 prices. It is noteworthy that 9% of these costs correspond to non-conventional resources, such as desalinated water, reused water and water transferred from other regions.The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, suggestions and positive feedback. All remaining errors, however, are solely the responsibility of the authors. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Jucar River Basin Authority – Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment) for providing data to develop this study. The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for its financial support through the NUTEGES project (CGL2012-34978). We also value the support provided by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program in financing the projects ENHANCE (FP7-ENV2012, 308438) and IMPREX (H2020-WATER-2014-2015, 641811).Pedro Monzonís, M.; Solera Solera, A.; Ferrer Polo, FJ.; Andreu Álvarez, J.; Estrela Monreal, T. (2016). Water accounting for stressed river basins based on water resources management models. The Science of The Total Environment. 565:181-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.161S18119056

A review of water scarcity and drought indexes in water resources planning and management

Water represents an essential element for the life of all who inhabit our planet. But the random nature of this resource, which is manifested by the alternation of wet periods and dry periods, makes it even more precious. Whatever the approach (water planning, water management, drought, economy), in order to maximise the profit produced by the allocation of water it is necessary an understanding of the relationships between physical variables as precipitation, temperatures, streamflows, reservoir volumes, piezometric levels, water demands and infrastructures management. This paper attends to provide a review of fundamental water scarcity and drought indexes that enables to assess the status of a water exploitation system. With the aim of a better water management and governance under water scarcity conditions., this paper also presents a classification of indexes to help decision makers and stakeholders to select the most appropriate indexes, taking as the starting point the objectives of the analysis and the river basin features.Pedro Monzonis, M.; Solera Solera, A.; Ferrer Polo, FJ.; Estrela Monreal, T.; Paredes Arquiola, J. (2015). A review of water scarcity and drought indexes in water resources planning and management. Journal of Hydrology. (527):482-493. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.05.003S48249352

Effects of Climate Change on Water Quality in the Jucar River Basin (Spain)

[EN] The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, especially concerning issues of hydrological planning and urban water supply systems. In this context, the Jucar River Basin (Spain) presents an increase of frequency, intensity and duration of extreme meteorological phenomena, such as torrential rains, droughts or heat waves, which directly affect the quantity and quality of raw water available for drinking. This paper aims to analyze the effects of climate change on the raw water quality of the Jucar River Basin District, which mainly supplies the city of Valencia and its metropolitan area, in order to adapt drinking water treatments to new conditions and opportunities. For this purpose, we used observed data of water quality parameters from four stations and climate drivers from seven Earth system models of the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-Phase 6. To model water quality (turbidity and conductivity) in the past and future scenarios, this study employs a backward stepwise regression taking into account daily values of mean temperature, maximum temperature, total rainfall and minimum and maximum relative humidity. Results showed that the model performance of the water quality simulation is more adequate for short moving-average windows (about 2-7 days) for turbidity and longer windows (about 30-60 days) for conductivity. Concerning the future scenarios, the most significant change was found in the projected increase of conductivity for the station of the Jucar river, between 4 and 11% by 2100, respectively, under the medium (SSP2-4.5) and pessimistic (SSP5-8.5) emission scenarios. The joint use of these types of management and monitoring tools may help the managers in charge of carrying out the different water treatments needed to apply a better plan to raw water and may help them identify future threats and investment needs to adapt the urban water supply systems to the changing conditions of raw water, such as turbidity or conductivity, as a consequence of climate change.This research was co-funded by the Agencia Valenciana de la Innovacio, through the study "Aplicacion de los servicios climaticos para el desarrollo de una estrategia de adaptacion al cambio climatico de los sistemas urbanos de abastecimiento" (INNTA3/2020/14), as well as by EIT Climate-KIC, financing the CRISI-ADAP-II project (EIT-CKIC-TC_2.13.7_190799), and supported by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) of the Spanish Government under the "IMpacts of climate change on wetlands Affected by GroUndwAter (IMAGUA)" project.Gómez-Martínez, G.; Galiano, L.; Rubio, T.; Prado-López, C.; Redolat, D.; Paradinas Blázquez, C.; Gaitán, E.... (2021). Effects of Climate Change on Water Quality in the Jucar River Basin (Spain). Water. 13(17):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13172424S117131

Key Issues for Determining the Exploitable Water Resources in a Mediterranean River Basin

[EN] One of the major difficulties in water planning is to determine the water availability in a water resource system in order to distribute water sustainably. In this paper, we analyze the key issues for determining the exploitable water resources as an indicator of water availability in a Mediterranean river basin. Historically, these territories are characterized by heavily regulated water resources and the extensive use of unconventional resources (desalination and wastewater reuse); hence, emulating the hydrological cycle is not enough. This analysis considers the Jucar River Basin as a case study. We have analyzed the different possible combinations between the streamflow time series, the length of the simulation period and the reliability criteria. As expected, the results show a wide dispersion, proving the great influence of the reliability criteria used for the quantification and localization of the exploitable water resources in the system. Therefore, it is considered risky to provide a single value to represent the water availability in the Jucar water resource system. In this sense, it is necessary that policymakers and stakeholders make a decision about the methodology used to determine the exploitable water resources in a river basin. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors wish to thank the Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar (Spanish Ministry of the Environment) for the data provided in developing this study and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for its financial support through the projects SCARCE (Consolider-Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00065) and NUTEGES (CGL2012-34978). We also value the support provided by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program in financing the projects DROUGHT-R82SPI (FP7-ENV-2011, 282769), ENHANCE (FP7-ENV-2012, 308438), WAMCD (EC-DG Environment No. 07.0329/2013/671291/ SUB/ENV.C1) and LIFE ALBUFERA (LIFE12 ENV/ES/000685).Pedro Monzonís, M.; Ferrer Polo, FJ.; Solera Solera, A.; Estrela Monreal, T.; Paredes Arquiola, J. (2015). Key Issues for Determining the Exploitable Water Resources in a Mediterranean River Basin. Science of the Total Environment. 503-504:319-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.07.042S319328503-50