Water Resources Systems in a Changing World: Planning and Adaptation

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Resources Management, Policy and Governance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 7054

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering: Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Interests: hydrology and hydraulics; planning and management of hydraulic systems; hydrological safety of hydraulic infrastructure; eco-hydrology; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Water calls for original research papers focused on the broadest sense of water resources systems and climate change. Ensuring adequate water supply following the development of society while maintaining the good status of ecosystems is becoming increasingly complex, particularly in areas characterized by water scarcity and with unfavorable projections due to climate change. Likewise, in many water resources systems, a high degree of efficiency has already been achieved while environmental water requirements are intensified, so, in the medium and long term, it will be very challenging to continue to meet all demands with adequate water reliability. To deal with that, several research initiatives are being carried out, such as the project “Climate scenarios and adaptation of water resources systems” (SECA-SRH - PID2019-105852RA-I00), which is mainly focused on Mediterranean climates. Within the framework of SECA-SRH, this Special Issue calls for contributions, from different regions affected by climate change, that aim to generate knowledge that contributes to the design and implementation of climate change adaptation policies that take into account simultaneously technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects, and that allow for decision making. In addition, we are seeking manuscripts that research the prioritization of the allocation of water resources among the different activities, and thus, aim to achieve the sustainability of the management of water resources systems in the medium and long term. Research studies related to planning and adaptation of water resources systems include: management of water resources systems (including both, natural and anthropogenic components) to deal with climate and social changes, sensitivity assessment of water availability, analysis of adaptation measures, evaluation of the performance of water resources systems to support decisions on prioritization of use in conditions of scarcity, and analysis of policies for the development of water resources systems and those for improving management and governance. Studies developing integrated modeling frameworks involving the social, human, economic, and environmental dimensions of the water resources systems, and those dealing with conflict resolution and stakeholder-oriented systems, are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Álvaro Sordo-Ward
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water resources systems
  • climate change
  • climate scenarios
  • SECA-SRH
  • planning of water resources
  • adaptation measures
  • water scarcity
  • sustainable water management

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

29 pages, 13826 KiB  
Article
Can Managed Aquifer Recharge Overcome Multiple Droughts?
by Mengqi Zhao, Jan Boll, Jennifer C. Adam and Allyson Beall King
Water 2021, 13(16), 2278; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13162278 - 20 Aug 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3025
Abstract
Frequent droughts, seasonal precipitation, and growing agricultural water demand in the Yakima River Basin (YRB), located in Washington State, increase the challenges of optimizing water provision for agricultural producers. Increasing water storage through managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can potentially relief water stress from [...] Read more.
Frequent droughts, seasonal precipitation, and growing agricultural water demand in the Yakima River Basin (YRB), located in Washington State, increase the challenges of optimizing water provision for agricultural producers. Increasing water storage through managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can potentially relief water stress from single and multi-year droughts. In this study, we developed an aggregated water resources management tool using a System Dynamics (SD) framework for the YRB and evaluated the MAR implementation strategy and the effectiveness of MAR in alleviating drought impacts on irrigation reliability. The SD model allocates available water resources to meet instream target flows, hydropower demands, and irrigation demand, based on system operation rules, irrigation scheduling, water rights, and MAR adoption. Our findings suggest that the adopted infiltration area for MAR is one of the main factors that determines the amount of water withdrawn and infiltrated to the groundwater system. The implementation time frame is also critical in accumulating MAR entitlements for single-year and multi-year droughts mitigation. In addition, adoption behaviors drive a positive feedback that MAR effectiveness on drought mitigation will encourage more MAR adoptions in the long run. MAR serves as a promising option for water storage management and a long-term strategy for MAR implementation can improve system resilience to unexpected droughts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems in a Changing World: Planning and Adaptation)
Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 35891 KiB  
Article
A Continental Assessment of Reservoir Storage and Water Availability in South America
by Bolivar Paredes-Beltran, Alvaro Sordo-Ward, B. de-Lama and Luis Garrote
Water 2021, 13(14), 1992; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13141992 - 20 Jul 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3217
Abstract
This study presents the first continental assessment of water storage and its influence on the availability of water of the river systems of South America. Although hydraulic infrastructure has the potential to cause several impacts on river systems and the environment, their relevance [...] Read more.
This study presents the first continental assessment of water storage and its influence on the availability of water of the river systems of South America. Although hydraulic infrastructure has the potential to cause several impacts on river systems and the environment, their relevance in water resources systems is irrefutable. The human services that dams and reservoirs provide to society, e.g., hydroelectricity, water supply, irrigation, or flood control, are vital services that society requires to develop. Despite this fact, the interactions of dams and reservoirs in the river systems of South America have not been explored from a hydrological perspective. In this study, we present the first assessment of the potential effects of water storage at a basin scale in South America. For this purpose, first we present an analysis of the current conditions and the influence of water storage in the basins of the continent. Then, we estimate the potential water availability of each basin, to evaluate the role of water storage in the availability of water in the continent. Our findings indicate that the ‘Colorado’ and ‘Negro’ basins in Argentina are the most influenced by water storage in the continent. Moreover, our results suggest that reservoirs improve the potential water availability capacity, particularly in the southern basins of the continent. With this study, we expect to provide helpful insights about the current interactions of reservoirs with the river systems of the continent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems in a Changing World: Planning and Adaptation)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop