SCNAT and its network are committed to a sustainable science and society. They support policy-making, administration and business with expert knowledge and actively participate in public discourse. They strengthen the exchange across scientific disciplines and promote early career academics.

Image: Sebastian, stock.adobe.com

Water Management in a Changing Environment

Strategies against Water Scarcity in the Alps

The role of mountains in providing indispensible water resources for municipal and industrial water supply, irrigation, hydropower production, and other environmental services is well-known and unquestioned. It is evident that an increase in air temperature coupled with an increase in evapotranspiration and less precipitation in the form of snow, regionally combined with reduced precipitation, will have an important impact on the water balance in the Alps. The project "Alp-Water-Scarce" aims at providing possible solutions to prevent periods of water scarcity and to develop and promote an integrated and sustainable approach to water management.

Download report: Water Management in a Changing Environment

The measures recommended in this handbook cannot be seen as solutions for the Alps per se, since the different national and European (e.g., Water Framework Directive) legislative frameworks of water governance must be taken into account. However, these recommendations are based on sound investigations at the different Pilot Sites of Alp-Water-Scarce.

In the first sections of this handbook, a definition of ‘water scarcity’ and different stakeholder perspectives on the term are presented. An overview of water scarcity
problems in different sectors and the legal aspects of water governance at different levels are then provided. In the last section, recommendations to address water scarcity are proposed.

Source: Alp-Water-Scarce Consortium, 2011

Categories

  • Alps
  • Biosphere
  • Climatic effects
  • Drinking water
  • Ecosystem
  • Effect
  • Hydropower
  • Hydrospheres
  • Impacts of climate change
  • Tourism
  • Water cycle
English