Facing Future Water Scarcity in the Duero-Douro Basin: Comparative Effect of Policy Measures on Irrigation Water Availability
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 146, Issue 4
Abstract
This study presents an analysis of possible policy measures to face water scarcity for agriculture in a long-term climate projection (2070–2100). Water availability was computed with the Water Availability and Adaptation Policy Analysis (WAAPA) model. WAAPA simulates water management in a basin at a monthly time scale, accounting for streamflow, reservoir storage, evaporation, and environmental flows. Focus was placed on urban and irrigation demands. Water was first allocated to urban demands (assumed as a priority), and the remaining water resources were allocated to irrigation. First, this availability was compared to an estimated projected evolution of water withdrawals to identify potential conflicts over water supply. If insufficient water was available to satisfy all irrigation demands, policy measures, such as increasing reservoir storage, improving the efficiency of urban water use, and changing the environmental flow allocation, were applied and their effects on irrigation water availability analyzed. The analysis of the Duero-Douro (Spain-Portugal) Basin showed that, although the expected impacts of climate change on water availability for agriculture are high, several policy options can partially compensate for those impacts. Comparatively, a change in environmental flow requirements was the policy measure that most affected Duero-Douro Basin management.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness for its financial support of María D. Bejarano through the National Research Program Juan de la Cierva (Ref. IJCI-2016-29157). They also express their appreciation to the European Commission for the funding received for this research through the project DURERO (07.0329/2013/671322/SUB/ENV). The authors acknowledge the financial support of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid through the ADAPT project and the program Programa propio: ayudas a proyectos de I+D de investigadores posdoctorales (VJIDOCUPM19AFSW). Finally, the authors acknowledge the financial support of Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) through the Programa de Apoyo a la realización de Proyectos de I+D para jóvenes investigadores de la UPM.
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Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 146 • Issue 4 • April 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 7, 2018
Accepted: Sep 23, 2019
Published online: Feb 5, 2020
Published in print: Apr 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jul 5, 2020
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