Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Reservoir Management: Uncertainty and Adaptation for a Mountain Catchment in Northeast Portugal

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2017

Authors

Carvalho Santos, C (Author) Other; Monteiro, AT (Author) Other; Azevedo, JC (Author) Other; Joao Honrado (Author) FCUP; Nunes, JP (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Water Resources Management

Vol. 31

Pages: 3355-3370

ISSN: 0920-4741

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 43 Citations

Scopus - 48 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00M-SS7

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-017-1672-z

Abstract (EN): Reservoirs often play an important role in mitigating water supply problems. However, the implications of climate change are not always considered in reservoir planning and management. This study aimed to address this challenge in the Alto Sabor watershed, northeast Portugal. The study analysed whether or not the shortage of water supply can be effectively addressed through the construction of a new reservoir (two-reservoir system) by considering future climate projections. The hydrological model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was calibrated and validated against daily-observed discharge and reservoir volume, with a good agreement between model predictions and observations. Outputs from four General Circulation Models (GCM) for two scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) were statistically downscaled and bias-corrected with ground observations. A general increase in temperature is expected in the future while the change in precipitation is more uncertain as per the differences among climatic models. In general, annual precipitation would slightly decrease while seasonal changes would be more significant, with more precipitation in winter and much less in spring and summer. SWAT simulations suggest that the existence of two-reservoir will better solve the water supply problems under current climate conditions compared to a single-reservoir system. However in the future, the reliability of this solution will decrease, especially due to the variability of projections from the different climatic models. The solution to water supply problems in this region, adopted taking only present-day climate into account, will likely be inefficient for water supply management under future climate conditions.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 16