Keywords
water resources management, long-term planning, global change, modeling
Start Date
1-7-2006 12:00 AM
Abstract
Global change challenges long-term planning in water management. Practical management requires plausible and consistent scenarios as well as assessments of possible climatic, technological and social developments and their impacts. These problems are subjects of research within the GLOWA Elbe II – project. The project’s goal is to develop a water management strategy for possible adaptation to global change in the Elbe river basin (about 150,000 km2). One important component of the multi-disciplinary project is the analysis of conflicts related to water availability. For that purpose a detailed water management model for the whole Elbe river basin, including the Czech part of the basin, is under development. The model includes the main water uses and management facilities. Special consideration has been given to wetlands as important water “user”. The amount of water use is partly determined by modules, which consider economical changes. Also in the model are functions for evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts associated with various degrees of fulfillment of the water demands. The simulation software uses the model WBalMo®. The WBalMo Elbe model consists of connected sub-models for major sub-basins, including the sub-model Elbe itself. The water yield is provided by a rainfall-runoff-model, which reflects not only climatic change but also changes in land use, especially by agriculture.
Water resources management and water availability in the Elbe river basin under conditions of global change
Global change challenges long-term planning in water management. Practical management requires plausible and consistent scenarios as well as assessments of possible climatic, technological and social developments and their impacts. These problems are subjects of research within the GLOWA Elbe II – project. The project’s goal is to develop a water management strategy for possible adaptation to global change in the Elbe river basin (about 150,000 km2). One important component of the multi-disciplinary project is the analysis of conflicts related to water availability. For that purpose a detailed water management model for the whole Elbe river basin, including the Czech part of the basin, is under development. The model includes the main water uses and management facilities. Special consideration has been given to wetlands as important water “user”. The amount of water use is partly determined by modules, which consider economical changes. Also in the model are functions for evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts associated with various degrees of fulfillment of the water demands. The simulation software uses the model WBalMo®. The WBalMo Elbe model consists of connected sub-models for major sub-basins, including the sub-model Elbe itself. The water yield is provided by a rainfall-runoff-model, which reflects not only climatic change but also changes in land use, especially by agriculture.
