Computing a Groundwater Sustainability Index for coastal aquifers in Portugal and California to foster sustainable groundwater management

<p>Sustainability Indices can be useful to quantify objective groundwater management strategy outcomes, particularly across regional scales and when local groundwater budget data is not readily available. Previous studies have used performance indicators to evaluate surface water systems, and their application to groundwater is expanding to address water availability concerns. Here, a groundwater sustainability index (GSI) is computed across coastal aquifer systems in Portugal and California using reliability (REL), resilience (RES), and vulnerability (VUL) performance indicators. Aquifers in these Mediterranean climate zones are susceptible to inter-annual and seasonal water storage fluctuations linked to climate forcings and drought. Piezometric levels in the selected aquifers in Portugal (Leirosa-Monte Real and Campina de Faro) and California (Napa and Santa Barbara), spanning a period from 1989 to 2019, are analyzed using a point-wise approach to provide an index-per-piezometer. The computation exposes that the resilience indicator is heavily influential in setting an aquifer system's overall sustainability classification. However, the most significant output from the GSI is a clear indication of how well (or poor) a specific aquifer can withstand drought conditions that occur in both California and Portugal throughout the 30-year span of this study. Lastly, comparing indices with different priorities (performance indicators), such as sustainability and exploitive use (including the Water Framework Directive’s River Basin Management Plan’s Water Exploitation Index (WEI+)) can help identify aquifer systems that may need an immediate policy, conservation, or mitigation interventions, and others that may be self-sustaining for a longer period of time. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support FCT through project UIDB/50019/2020 – IDL.</p>

EU environmental directives in the development of the lower Raut river basin management plan

Studiul a fost realizat pentru prezentarea oportunităților de dezvoltarea durabilă în RRI prin aplicarea prevederilor Directivelor de mediu ale UE, și atingerea stării bune a ecosistemelor acvatice care au fost deteriorate în perioada sovietică prin folosirea intensivă a agrochimicatelor, utilizarea irațională a resurselor de apă, deversărilor necontrolate a apelor uzate. În această perioadă nu existau oportunitățile privind cooperarea internațională și atragerea celor mai bune practici de management al mediului. Actualmente cooperarea cu UE se desfășoară în baza realizării prevederilor directivelor respective. Articolul prezintă primele rezultate obținute în cadru consultării cu APL, lecțiile învățate privind cooperarea cu UE la nivel local.

The Desna River Daily Multi-Site Streamflow Modeling Using SWAT with Detail Snowmelt Adjustment

The Ukrainian Government started the process of EU water Directives implementation aimed at developing of the River Basin Management Plan for 9 main river catchments. The program SWAT was tested to simulate the water flow of a large plain river with a predominant snow supply. River discharges (12 gauges), snow cover depth (13 stations), and the soft data, including graphically defined surface runoff and MODIS evapotranspiration, were used to calibrate the model. The calibration flowchart, along with a detailed source data description, is proposed to aid with streamflow simulation for the snowmelt-driven watersheds and fill the existing gap of distributed hydrological modeling in the region. The main issues with snow simulation and climate data coverage are discussed. The program SUFI-2 in SWAT-CUP package was used for performing calibration/validation and uncertainty analysis. The statistics (R2, NSE, PBIAS) showed good agreement (NS > 0.7, R2 > 0.75, PBIAS < ±10%) for a major part of the gauges and satisfactory for all of them (NS > 0.5, R2 > 0.6, PBIAS < ±15%), except of two linked upstream outlets. This study provides the basis for further research on water resources, the impacts of climate change, and water quality issues.

Climate changes and water resource planning: WIZ, an operational tool

The institutional activity of the Arno River Basin Authority is focused on two strategical planning processes: the River Basin Management Plan, according to 2000/60/CE European Direcitve, and the Flood Management Plan, according to 2007/60/CE European Directive. Both plans contain most of the contents of Arno River Basin Plan, developed after the italian law L. 183/89, and are tackling with a global approach the management of extreme flood events and water budget problems. In this context, the evaluation of climate change impact on the water cycle is extremely relevant. Therefore the Arno River Basin Authority is engaged to analyze the impact of climate changes on water status, regarding as main reference the IPCC AR4 report e their connected forecasting scenarios. The involvement in a LIFE+ project (WIZ – WaterIZe Spatial Planning) is the framework for a sample of preliminary evaluations, with the aim to include in the next updated edition of River Basin Management Plan new adapting measures (more than mitigation actions), in order to fight the negative impact of climate change on the possibility to achieve the Water Framework Directive’s quality objectives. Focusing the attention on the Lower Arno valley (Valdarno Inferiore) and taking into account as simplifying hypothesis a linear correlation between groundwater recharge and total rainfall fluctuations, the effects of actual and projected climate changes are evaluated. For each water abstraction area, the potential variation of available groundwater for antropic use (in cubic meter per year) is estimated, showing a decreasing trend ranging, with a high spatial variability, in a 5-10% interval. Due the increase of water demand and the distribution network losses, even such a percentage of decreasing potential recharge should be carefully evaluated; without water savings measures and investments on the renovation of distribution networks, an increase of the typical summer water scarcity crisis is high probable.