FutureWater to balance water accounts in Segura River Basin, Spain
Consultancy firm FutureWater will develop and implement a water accounting system in the Segura River Basin according to the standards given by the EU Water Framework Directive.
The water accounting is part of the recently awarded project Accounting System for the Segura river and Transfer (Asset).
FutureWater participates in the project together with Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (consortium leader), Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura and Samui.
The project is funded by the European Union under the framework of Preparatory Action on development of prevention activities to halt desertification in Europe.
Water balance to combat drought
FutureWater has been tasked to develop the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW). Their work will mainly concentrate on the collection and standardisation of all data, enabling the system to produce water balances.
These water balances will be used to draw up the River Basin Management Plan, giving guidance and decision support to decrease the vulnerability of the basin against droughts and climate change.
Example of a flowchart showing annual water fluxes in watershed Campo de Cartagena.
Standardised format of water accounting
Overall, the Asset-project will complement the EU water resources balance at the local scale and will demonstrate how water resources balancing contributes to a better river basin management.
Specific project objectives are:
● collect and assess data on the physical water availability, interbasin transfers of water, and consumption rates by the different users and economic sectors in the Segura River Basin. The environmental and socioeconomic data collected will be presented according the standardized format of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEA-Water) developed by the United Nations and adopted by all the EU-member countries through their National Accounting Systems.
● test several innovative methodologies to improve the closure of the water balances at the sub-basin scale in order to increase the accuracy of the water accounts.
● integrate all the available data into the River Basin Management Plan through a Geographic Information System and the sharing of a protocol for the exchange, transfer and dissemination of information.
● identify and evaluate the effectiveness of a set of different management measures, including technological and economic, to reduce the vulnerability of the Segura River Basin and its socio-economic development against periods of water scarcity and severe drought, and against future scenarios of land use and climate change.
About FutureWater
FutureWater is a research and consulting organization that works throughout the world to combine scientific research with practical solutions for water management. FutureWater works at both global, national and local levels with partners on projects addressing water for food, irrigation, water excess, water shortage, climate change, and river basin management.
This news item was originally published on the website of Future Water.
More information
FutureWater
Wageningen, the Netherlands
+31 317 46 00 50
www.futurewater.nl