Optimal water allocation at different levels of climate change to minimize water shortage in arid regions (Case Study: Zayandeh-Rud River Basin,Iran)

Climate change is one of the most important factors influencing the future of the world's environment. The most important impacts of climate change are changes in water supply and demand in different regions of the world. In this study, different climate change patterns in two RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios (RCP: Representative Concentration Pathway), were adopted for the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin, Iran, through weighting of GCMs (General Circulation Models). These climate change patterns are including ideal, medium, and critical patterns. Using the LARS-WG model (Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator), the outputs of the GCMs were downscaled statistically and the daily temperature and precipitation time series were generated from 2020 to 2044. Then, based on this information, the inflow volume into the Zayandeh-Rud Reservoir was predicted by the IHACRES model (Identification of unit Hydrograph and Component flows from Rainfall, Evaporation and Streamflow) and the agricultural water demand was also estimated based on future evapotranspiration. Finally, using GAMS (General Algebraic Modeling System) software, water resources in this basin were allocated based on the basic management scenario (B) and the water demand management scenario (D). The results showed that the average monthly temperature will increase by 0.6 to 1.3 °C under different climate change patterns. On the other hand, on the annual basis, precipitation will decrease by 6.5 to 31% and inflow volume to the Zayandeh-Rud Reservoir will decrease by 21 to 38%. The results also showed that the water shortages based on the baseline management scenario (B) will be between 334 and 805 MCM (Million Cubic Meters). These range of values varies between 252 and 787 MCM in the water demand management scenario (D). In general, the water shortage can be reduced in the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin with water demand control, but complete resolution of this problem in this region requires more integrated strategies based on a sustainable development, such as a fundamental change in the cropping pattern, prevention of population growth and industrial development.     

Climate change projections of temperature and precipitation for the great lakes basin using the PRECIS regional climate model

The Great Lakes Basin plays an important role in the economy and society of the United States and Canada, and climate change in this region may affect many sectors. In this study, six GCM simulations were downscaled to resolve the Great Lakes using a regional climate model (RCM) with 25 km × 25 km resolution. This model was used to project changes in temperature and precipitation during the mid-century (2040–2069) and late-century (2070–2099) over the Great Lakes basin region with reference to a baseline of 1980–2009. The whole-basin annual mean temperature is projected to increase 2.1 °C to 4.0 °C above the baseline during the mid-century, and 3.3 °C to 6.0 °C during the late-century. Summer temperatures in the southern portion of the basin are projected to increase more than the temperatures in the northern portion of the basin; whereas winter temperatures are projected to increase more in the north than in the south. Estimates of the whole-basin annual precipitation with respect to the baseline vary from −3.0% to 16.5% during the mid-century and −2.9% to 21.6% during the late-century, respectively. Future summer precipitation in southwestern areas of this region is expected to decrease by 20%–30% compared to the baseline, but winter precipitation (mostly snow) is expected to increase by 11.6% and 15.4% during the mid-century and late-century. This study highlights the effects of the large expanses of water (such as the Great Lakes) on regional climate projections and the associated uncertainties of climate change.     

Impact of Climate Change on the Hydrology of Upper Tiber River Basin Using Bias Corrected Regional Climate Model

The use of regional climate model (RCM) outputs has been getting due attention in most European River basins because of the availability of large number of the models and modelling institutes in the continent; and the relative robustness the models to represent local climate. This paper presents the hydrological responses to climate change in the Upper Tiber River basin (Central Italy) using bias corrected daily regional climate model outputs. The hydrological analysis include both control (1961–1990) and future (2071–2100) climate scenarios. Three RCMs (RegCM, RCAO, and PROMES) that were forced by the same lateral boundary condition under A2 and B2 emission scenarios were used in this study. The projected climate variables from bias corrected models have shown that the precipitation and temperature tends to decrease and increase in summer season, respectively. The impact of climate change on the hydrology of the river basin was predicted using physically based Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The SWAT model was first calibrated and validated using observed datasets at the sub-basin outlet. A total of six simulations were performed under each scenario and RCM combinations. The simulated result indicated that there is a significant annual and seasonal change in the hydrological water balance components. The annual water balance of the study area showed a decrease in surface runoff, aquifer recharge and total basin water yield under A2 scenario for RegCM and RCAO RCMs and an increase in PROMES RCM under B2 scenario. The overall hydrological behaviour of the basin indicated that there will be a reduction of water yield in the basin due to projected changes in temperature and precipitation. The changes in all other hydrological components are in agreement with the change in projected precipitation and temperature.     

Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources Availability and Agricultural Water Demand in the West Bank

Global climate change is predicted as a result of increased concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. It is predicted that climate change will result in increasing temperature by 2 to 6°C and a possible reduction of precipitation of up to 16% in the Mediterranean basin. In this study, the West Bank is taken as a case study from the Mediterranean basin to evaluate the effects of such climate change on water resources availability and agricultural water demands. Due to the uncertainty in climate change impacts on temperature and precipitation, a number of scenarios for these impacts were assumed within the range of predicted changes. For temperature, three scenarios of 2, 4 and 6°C increase were assumed. For precipitation, two scenarios of no change and 16% precipitation reduction were assumed. Based on these scenarios, monthly evapotranspiration and monthly precipitation excess depths were estimated at seven weather stations distributed over the different climatic and geographical areas of the West Bank. GIS spatial analyses showed that the increase in temperature predicted by climate change could potentially increase agricultural water demands by up to 17% and could also result in reducing annual groundwater recharge by up to 21% of existing values. However, the effects of reduced precipitation resulting from climate change are more enormous as a 16% reduction in precipitation could result in reducing annual groundwater recharge in the West Bank by about 30% of existing value. When this effect is combined with a 6°C increase in temperature, the reduction in groundwater recharge could reach 50%.     

Optimization of Hydraulic-Hydrologic Complex System of Reservoirs and Connecting Tunnel

Nowadays, population growth, environmental constraints and climate change can adversely affect our water supply systems’ ability to keep up with demand. Due to lack of unsuitable distribution and dispersion of water resources, precipitation, soil resources, etc., inter-basin transfers of water could be a solution in order to balancing between supply and demand water in different areas. In this study, the optimal designing of water conveyance from basin No-1 to basin No-2 is investigated. Water is transferred between these two dams by tunnel structure. Since the water flow through the tunnel is under pressure, increasing dam height will cause the decrease of tunnel diameter for constant water conveyance efficiency. The purpose of this study is transferring 95 % of water flow between two basins after supplying the agriculture consumption and environmental needs. Therefore, the mathematical program was developed first to solve the governing equations of water balance of reservoir and hydraulic of tunnel. Then, various strategies including different diameters of tunnel and dam height were considered and finally the best strategy from economic and technical viewpoint was proposed. The results showed that dam height of 151.2 m and tunnel diameter of 3.2 m are the economic options to convey of 95 % of the water.     

Spatial and temporal variations in water temperature in a high-altitude deep dimictic mountain lake (Nam Co), central Tibetan Plateau

Water temperature and the related thermal structure and stratification of a lake are very important to lake ecosystems because of their significant effects on the vertical exchanges of dissolved and particulate matter. In this study, we present high resolution, seasonal variations in water temperature at different depths of a large deep lake on the central Tibetan Plateau. The results show that Nam Co is a typical dimictic lake whose thermal stratification begins and ends in early June and early November, respectively. Increases in the water temperature during spring and the establishment of thermal stratification in the eastern small sub-basin occur approximately one month prior to the main basin which is likely caused by the different morphometry, different water transparency during spring, and the possible presence of a spring thermal bar. The Schmidt stability of the water column is directly controlled by surface water temperature. During the ice-covered period, the homogeneous water temperature exhibits a continuous increasing trend from approximately 0.5 °C to 3.5 °C. The daily mean surface water temperature of the main open lake area is highly correlated to the air temperature but shows a hysteresis effect of approximately 38 days, which shows the significant heat storage in such a large deep lake. Nam Co is a typical lake in this area in terms of its altitude, water depth and climatic conditions, so our results have broader significance for limnological and paleolimnological studies of similar lakes on the Tibetan Plateau.     

Global Warming Effects on Faecal Coliform Bacterium Watershed Impairments in Portugal

Impairment of surface water quality by faecal coliform bacteria is an issue of great importance across the globe. A water quality model, Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN, was used to predict the impacts of farming and climate change on faecal coliform loads and concentrations in streams of the Lis River watershed, in the Leiria region, Portugal. The calibrated faecal coliform model simulated well the patterns and range of observed faecal coliform concentrations. The accuracy of the model was evaluated by the per cent bias coefficient and the coefficient of determination. The results indicate a general deterioration of the water quality regarding faecal contamination in Lis River. Maximum daily loads were calculated for each of the impaired streams; an average of 77% reduction in the current faecal coliform load from the watershed is necessary to achieve the established water quality goals by the Council Directive 75/440/EEC ( 1975 ). Climate change scenarios (increments on temperature and precipitation) were assumed to predict the behaviour of faecal coliform bacteria in the watershed. The simulated results showed that an increase of 1°C in air daily temperature results in an increase of water temperature of 1.1°C and a 1.5% decrease on faecal coliform bacteria in stream concentration. The combined effect of air temperature (+1°C) and precipitation (+7%) increment leads to an increase of ~2% in bacteria inflow to the basin. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of Water Resources Development Projects under Conditions of Climate Change Using Efficiency Indexes (EIs)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate Gharanghu multi-purpose reservoir system (East Azerbaijan, Iran) using efficiency indexes (EIs) affected by climate change. At first, the effects of climate change on inflow to the reservoir, as well as changes in the demand volume over a time interval of 30 years (2040–2069) are reviewed. Simulation results show that inflow to the reservoir is decreased in climate change interval compared to the baseline interval (1971–2000), so that comparison of long-term average monthly inflow to the reservoir in climate change interval is reduced about 25% compared to the baseline. Also, water demand in climate change interval will increase, namely volume of water demand for agricultural, drinking and industrial, and environmental in climate change interval is expected to increase by 20%. The simulation results of the water evaluation and planning (WEAP) model is used to determine EIs of multi-purpose reservoir system. Next, three scenarios of water supply for climate change interval are introduced to WEAP model, keeping variable of parameter related to water demand volume (based on different percentages of supply) and keeping constant of the parameter related to the volume of inflow to the reservoir. Results show that system EIs in climate change interval will have a disadvantage compared to the baseline. So that, reliability, vulnerability, resiliency and flexibility indexes in climate change interval based on 100% of water supply compared to the baseline will decrease 18%, increase 150%, decrease 33%, and decrease 47%, respectively. These indexes based on 85% of supply compared to the baseline will decrease 12%, increase 75%, decrease 30%, and decrease 39%, respectively. Also, those based on 70% of supply compared to the baseline will decrease 1%, will be without change, decrease 18%, and decrease 18%, respectively. Changes in indexes in future interval indicate the need to manage water resource development projects in the basin.     

气候变化下黄河流域未来水资源趋势分析

开展流域水资源变化趋势研究是水资源规划和开发利用的基础工作。基于RCPs（Representative Concentration Pathways）排放情景下7个全球气候模式的气候情景资料,分析了黄河流域未来气温及降水的变化趋势;采用RCCC-WBM模型动态模拟了黄河流域未来水资源情势。结果表明:黄河流域在未来30年（2021—2050年）气温将持续显著升高（线性升率为0.24～0.35 ℃/（10 a））;与基准期（1961—1990年）相比,流域降水总体可能增多,但对降水变化预估的不确定性较大;受气候变化影响,黄河流域未来水资源量较基准期的可能会略微偏少,流域水资源供需矛盾可能进一步加剧;不确定性及其带来的评估风险是目前及未来气候变化影响及水资源评估中需要加强研究的重要内容。     

北三河流域水资源供需平衡对降水变化的敏感性

分析不同区域水资源供需平衡对降水变化的敏感性,并结合考虑云水资源和降水效率的空间分布,有助于常态化人工增雨作业地点的确定,对实现空陆水资源的统筹利用具有重要意义。以北三河流域为研究区域,基于新安江模型和彭曼-蒙特斯公式分析了研究区需水量对降水变化的响应,并探讨了不同计算单元水资源供需平衡对降水变化的敏感性。结果表明：当降水量增加时,流域平水年产水量增加的比例大于枯水年与特枯年,农田灌溉需水量随降水量的增加大致呈线性减小趋势;在不考虑外调水和地下水超采的情况下,自然降水情景的流域资源性缺水量分别为35.46亿m³(降水频率p=50%)、43.17亿m³(p=75%)和46.30亿m³(p=95%),缺水峰值分别出现在5月、7月和8月;各单元缺水量对降水变化的敏感性主要由产水变化主导,空间上呈由北向南逐渐递减的趋势,当平水年降水量增加20%时,北部地区缺水量相对减少率达到150%以上,中部介于30%～50%,南部则小于15%。     

NON‐UNIFORM CHANGES TO WHITEWATER RECREATION IN CALIFORNIA'S SIERRA NEVADA FROM REGIONAL CLIMATE WARMING

Whitewater recreation is an aesthetic ecosystem service potentially affected by climate warming alterations to runoff. In California's Sierra Nevada, climate change is likely to reduce water availability with warmer air temperatures and stationary or decreasing precipitation, which will likely alter whitewater recreation opportunities. In this study, we identified 128 whitewater runs on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada within a 13‐basin study area that ranged from serene float trips to remote, difficult, kayak expeditions. We used a spatially explicit, one‐dimensional rainfall‐runoff model to estimate the unregulated hydrology at specific locations within flow thresholds amenable to whitewater recreation. Climate warming scenarios were simulated by increasing air temperature by 2 °C, 4 °C and 6 °C and assuming no change in precipitation. With mild warming, the average number of boatable weeks per year increases, but more extreme warming decreases the average boatable weeks per year across the Sierra Nevada. Runs in low‐elevation drainages, such as the Cosumnes and the Tule River Basins, are most vulnerable to changes in boatable weeks. Yet, high‐elevation watersheds, such as the Kern River, also have a large reduction in boatable weeks. Watersheds in the central Sierra Nevada show an increase in boatable weeks. Overall, we found elevation and run type to be the best predictors of resiliency for Sierra Nevada whitewater runs. Recreation is important for management of rivers, yet it is difficult to quantify and to plan for. This research provides a sensitivity analysis approach to climate warming for the Sierra Nevada and presents a method that can be applied to other regions and whitewater rivers. The observed reduction in whitewater recreation opportunities in unregulated rivers because of climate warming and continued increases in population will likely increase the importance of whitewater boating on regulated rivers and thus the reliance on operations for meeting multiple demands. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long-Term Climatic Variability in Calabria and Effects on Drought and Agrometeorological Parameters

In recent decades a general change in climate has been documented in several locations over the world. Such changes could have significant effects on various environmental scenarios, including water resource management, agriculture, hydrology and ecosystems. The complex topography and coastlines of Mediterranean regions influences the climatic regime exhibiting substantial fine-scale spatial variability. In Italy, the climate is generally becoming warmer and drier, with quite large differences depending on the site and data treatment. In this study a historical set of meteorological data (110 precipitation and 28 temperature series), collected over 1921–2007 in the Calabria region (Southern Italy) was analysed. Several meteorological and agrometeorological indices were selected for whether they could evaluate the potential effects of climate change on water availability for natural vegetation and cultivated plants. The significance of the analysed time series (monthly, seasonal and annual time scales) was evaluated by using statistical trend analysis (Mann-Kendall and t-test). Moreover, the intensities of drought events were determined using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for the time scales of 3 and 6 months. The analysis highlighted a general decrease in annual precipitation and an increase in drought intensity. At a regional level, yearly precipitation decreased by almost 318 mm/100 years (representing almost 30 % of the yearly mean precipitation in the region). Temperature changes were more complex. On a regional scale, yearly mean minimum temperatures increased by 0.9 °C/100 years and maximum and mean temperatures decreased by 1 °C/100 years and 0.8 °C/100 years, respectively. Due to the asymmetric behaviour of temperatures, there was a decreasing impact on evapotranspiration.     

Future Scenarios of Surface Water Resources Availability in North African Dams

Climate change may have strong impacts on water resources in developing countries. In North Africa, many dams and reservoirs have been built to secure water availability in the context of a strong inter-annual variability of precipitation. The goal of this study is to evaluate climate change impacts on surface water resources for the largest dams in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia using high-resolution (12 km) regional climate models (RCM) simulations. To evaluate the atmospheric demand (evapotranspiration), two approaches are compared: The direct use of actual evaporation simulated by the RCMs, or estimation of reference evapotranspiration computed with the Hargreaves-Samani (HAR) equation, relying on air temperature only, and the FAO-Penman Monteith (PM) equation, computed with temperature, wind, radiation and relative humidity. Results showed a strong convergence of the RCM simulations towards increased temperature and a decrease in precipitation, in particular during spring and the western part of North Africa. A decrease in actual evapotranspiration, highly correlated to the decrease in precipitations, is observed throughout the study area. On the opposite, an increase in reference evapotranspiration is observed, with similar changes between HAR and PM equations, indicating that the main driver of change is the temperature increase. Since the catchments are rather water-limited than energy-limited, despite opposite projections for actual and reference evapotranspiration a decrease of water availability is projected for all basins under all scenarios, with a strong east-to-west gradient. The projected decrease is stronger when considering reference evapotranspiration rather than actual evaporation. These pessimistic future projections are an incentive to adapt the current management of surface water resources to future climatic conditions.     

Probabilistic Water Demand Forecasting Using Projected Climatic Data for Blue Mountains Water Supply System in Australia

Long term water demand forecasting is needed for the efficient planning and management of water supply systems. A Monte Carlo simulation approach is adopted in this paper to quantify the uncertainties in long term water demand prediction due to the stochastic nature of predictor variables and their correlation structures. Three future climatic scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1) and four different levels of water restrictions are considered in the demand forecasting for single and multiple dwelling residential sectors in the Blue Mountains region, Australia. It is found that future water demand in 2040 would rise by 2 to 33 % (median rise by 11 %) and 72 to 94 % (median rise by 84 %) for the single and multiple dwelling residential sectors, respectively under different climatic and water restriction scenarios in comparison to water demand in 2010 (base year). The uncertainty band for single dwelling residential sector is found to be 0.3 to 0.4 GL/year, which represent 11 to 13 % variation around the median forecasted demand. It is found that the increase in future water demand is not notably affected by the projected climatic conditions but by the increase in the dwelling numbers in future i.e. the increase in total population. The modelling approach presented in this paper can provide realistic scenarios of forecasted water demands which would assist water authorities in devising appropriate management strategies to enhance the resilience of the water supply systems. The developed method can be adapted to other water supply systems in Australia and other countries.     

Performance Indexes Analysis of the Reservoir-Hydropower Plant System Affected by Climate Change

Assessing the effects of climate change phenomenon on the natural resources, especially available water resources, considering the existing constraints and planning to reduce its adverse effects, requires continuous monitoring and quantification of the adverse effects, so that policymakers can analyze the performance of any system in different conditions clearly and explicitly. The most important objectives of the present research including: (1) calculating the sustainability index for each demand node based on the characteristics of its water supply individually and also calculating the sustainability index of the whole water supply system, (2) investigation the compatible of changes trend among various reservoir performance indexes and (3) evaluation the changes in performance reservoir indexes in the future time period compared to the baseline tie period under three Concentration Pathway (RCP) RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios for all water demand nodes and the entire water supply system. To this end, first, climatic parameters data affecting on the water resources such as temperature and precipitation were gathered in the baseline period (1977–2001) and the climatic scenarios were generated for the future period (2016–2040) using the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Then, the irrigation demand changes of the agricultural products with the Cropwat model and the value of inflow to the reservoir with the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model were calculated under the climate change effects. In the next step, the climate change effects on the water supply and demand were simulated using Water Evaluation and Planning model (WEAP), and its results were extracted so as the water management indexes. The results show that the temperature will increase in the future period under all three RCP scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) compared to the baseline period, while precipitation will decrease under the RCP2.6 scenario but will increases under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. Under the trend of changing in temperature and rainfall, the irrigation demand in the agricultural sector in all scenarios will increase compared to the baseline period. However, the inflow of reservoir will decrease under the RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 scenarios and will increases under RCP8.5 scenario. Evaluation of WEAP modeling results shows that the sustainability index of the entire Marun water-energy system will decrease in the future period compared to the baseline period under the RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios by 13, 10 and 8%, respectively. The decrease in the system sustainability index shows that in the absence of early planning, the Marun water-energy supply system will face several challenges for meeting the increasing demand of water in different consumer sectors in the coming years.

     

DEVELOPMENT OF A STOCHASTIC WATER TEMPERATURE MODEL AND PROJECTION OF FUTURE WATER TEMPERATURE AND EXTREME EVENTS IN THE OUELLE RIVER BASIN IN QUÉBEC,CANADA

A stochastic model is proposed to reproduce daily water temperature at 18 observation sites (11 main stem and 7 tributary sites) in the Ouelle River basin located in southern Quebec, Canada, using meteorological variables as predictors. A random sampling procedure without replacement was adopted for the model calibration and validation to overcome the limited length of the observed water temperature series. The predicted water temperature series were then submitted to variance inflation to reproduce the observed variability of the water temperature series. Historical water temperature series were obtained from observed meteorological predictors, whereas reference and future water temperature series were obtained from stochastic water temperature model using five reference (1970–1999) and future (2046–2065) meteorological predictors simulated by five different climate model runs. The reference series reproduced summer mean water temperature and the number of consecutive days with water temperature higher than 21 °C or 25 °C fairly well. On the basis of the historical series, it can be assumed that the seven tributaries of the Ouelle River provided thermal refugia for native salmon between 1970 and 1999. Future water temperature series projected by the stochastic model show that the seven tributaries could still be used as refugia to prevent lethal stress, whereas the temperature in the main stem and in three tributaries will be high enough to constitute stressful conditions for feeding juvenile Atlantic salmon. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of Climate Change on the Hydrological Regime and Water Resources in the Basin of Siatista

This paper examines an assessment of the impact of climate change on hydrological regimes and water resources in the basin of Siatista, a sub-basin of the Aliakmon river basin, located in Northern Greece. Initially all acquired hydrometeorological data of the study area, as well as the hydrometric data at the outlet of the basin, were analyzed and processed. A monthly conceptual water balance model was then calibrated using historical hydrometeorological data for determining changes in streamflow runoff under two different equilibrium scenarios (UKHI, CCC) referring to the years 2020, 2050 and 2100. It was found that by applying the two scenarios there will be a reduction of the mean winter runoff values, a serious reduction of summer runoff, an increase of maximum annual runoff and a decrease of minimum annual runoff values, an increase of potential and actual evapotranspiration, leading to a decrease of soil moisture, a reduction of snow accumulation and melting due to temperature increases, resulting in a decrease of spring runoff values and a shifting of the wet period towards December, resulting in severe prolongation of the dry period.     

Hydrology under climate change in a temporary river system: Potential impact on water balance and flow regime

The potential impacts of future climate scenarios on water balance and flow regime are presented and discussed for a temporary river system in southern Italy. Different climate projections for the future (2030–2059) and the recent conditions (1980–2009) were investigated. A hydrological model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to simulate water balance at the basin scale and streamflow in a number of river sections under various climate change scenarios, based on different combinations of global and regional models (global circulation models and regional climate models). The impact on water balance components was quantified at the basin and subbasin levels as deviation from the baseline (1980–2009), and the flow regime alteration under changing climate was estimated using a number of hydrological indicators. An increase in mean temperature for all months between 0.5–2.4 °C and a reduction in precipitation (by 4–7%) was predicted for the future. As a consequence, a decline of blue water (7–18%) and total water yield (11–28%) was estimated. Although the river type classification remains unvaried, the flow regime distinctly moves towards drier conditions and the divergence from the current status increases in future scenarios, especially for those reaches classified as I‐D (ie, intermittent‐dry) and E (ephemeral). Hydrological indicators showed a decrease in both high flow and low flow magnitudes for various time durations, an extension of the dry season and an exacerbation of extreme low flow conditions. A reduction of snowfall in the mountainous part of the basin and an increase in potential evapotranspiration was also estimated (4–4.4%). Finally, the paper analyses the implications of the climate change for river ecosystems and for River Basin Management Planning. The defined quantitative estimates of water balance alteration could support the identification of priorities that should be addressed in upcoming years to set water‐saving actions.     

Water demand versus supply in Saudi Arabia: current and future challenges

Saudi Arabia is facing a chronic water-shortage problem. Demand far exceeds the sustainable yield of both conventional and non-conventional water resources. The resulting demand–supply gap is being bridged through groundwater depletion. In this paper, demand–supply gaps for the coming 20 years are projected under three scenarios: optimistic, moderate and pessimistic. Future sustainable water yields are calculated and allocated to projected water demand in the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors. The study shows that Saudi Arabia will not be able to bridge the demand–supply gap in the near future. Intensive water demand management measures are needed in all sectors to minimize future demand–supply gaps, especially focused on the largest water consumer: the agricultural sector.     

Climate Change and Hydrological Response in the Trans-State Oologah Lake Watershed–Evaluating Dynamically Downscaled NARCCAP and Statistically Downscaled CMIP3 Simulations with VIC Model

Statistically and dynamically downscaled climate projections are the two important data sources for evaluation of climate change and its impact on water availability, water quality and ecosystems. Though bias correction helps to adjust the climate model output to behave more similarly to observations, the hydrologic response still can be biased. This study uses Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model to evaluate the hydrologic response of the trans-state Oologah Lake watershed to climate change by using both statistically and dynamically downscaled multiple climate projections. Simulated historical and projected climate data from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) and Bias-Corrected and Spatially Downscaled–Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 3 (BCSD-CMIP3) forced the hydrologic model. In addition, different river network upscaling methods are also compared for a higher VIC model performance. Evaluation and comparison shows the following the results. (1) From the hydrologic point of view, the dynamically downscaled NARCCAP projection performed better, most likely in capturing a larger portion of mesoscale-driven convective rainfall than the statistically downscaled CMIP3 projections; hence, the VIC model generated higher seasonal streamflow amplitudes that are closer to observations. Additionally, the statistically downscaled GCMs are less likely to capture the hydrological simulation probably due to missing integration of climate variables of wind, solar radiation and others, even though their precipitation and temperature are bias corrected to be more favorably than the NARCCAP simulations. (2) Future water availability (precipitation, runoff, and baseflow) in the watershed would increase annually by 3–4 %, suggested by both NARCCAP and BCSD-CMIP3. Temperature increases (2.5–3 °C) are much more consistent between the two types of climate projections both seasonally and annually. However, NARCCAP suggested 2–3 times higher seasonal variability of precipitation and other water fluxes than the BCSD-CMIP3 models. (3) The hydrologic performance could be used as a potential metric to comparatively differentiate climate models, since the land surface and atmosphere processes are considered integrally.