Development of a water resource management platform during low water periods in the SUDOE region (AGUAMOD)

Description:

The European Union has stressed the need to reassess the planning and management of water resources, “making the possible spread of uses in compliance with the environmental requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000) subject to water and river basin management plans” and has asked for priority to be given to “environmental requirements when facing socioeconomic requirements”. In this context, AGUAMOD is proposing to reconcile the water needs of societies (drinking water, agriculture, industry, cities, leisure etc.) with the ecological needs of rivers. In particular AGUAMOD is focusing its analyses and methods on periods of low flow and drought that place considerable pressure on this resource and result in tensions around its use.

The objective of AGUAMOD is to jointly build a platform for integrated water resource management during low water periods with all stakeholders in water management (managers, economic stakeholders, users and civil society) in south-west Europe (SUDOE).

The AGUAMOD platform will combine an evaluation of the watershed’s water needs (drinking water, agriculture, industry, environmental flows etc.) with numerical models that simulate the stocks and flows of water in all parts of the watershed.  An economic and social assessment of water resources and an analysis of the quality of water governance will be conducted across the SUDOE territory. Different climate change scenarios coupled with simulations will be designed to anticipate future water needs from a social and environmental perspective. The results are summarized in an interactive handbook.

The aim of the AGUAMOD platform is to promote a comprehensive, shared vision of the resource during low water levels throughout the SUDOE territory. It will provide managers and users with decision-making tools by means of complex scenarios presenting robust and localised information on climate dynamics, hydrology, land and water uses and modes of governance by 2050.

Project information

Lead

National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), France

Partners

Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea. Departamento de Geodinámica. Grupo de Hidrogeología, Spain

Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Spain

Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales, Spain

Instituto Superior Técnico. Maretec Pav Mecanica I., Portugal

IRSTEA. ETBX Centre de Bordeaux, France

Universidad de Cádiz. Facultad de Ciencias de Mar y Ambientales. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Ambientales, Spain

Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P., Portugal

Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Instituto de Ingeniería del Agua y Medio Ambiente. Grupo de Ingeniería de Recursos Hídricos, Spain

Other associate partners