DSS Application to the Development of Water Management Strategies in Ribeiras do Algarve River Basin

Rodrigo Maia () and Andreas Schumann

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2007, vol. 21, issue 5, 897-907

Abstract: Within the Project – “Developing Strategies for Regulating and Managing Water Resources and Demand in Water Deficient Regions (WSM)” funded by the EU in fifth Research Framework Program, the Ribeiras do Algarve River Basin was chosen as a case study to develop a DSS for planning purposes. Located in the southern stretch of the Portuguese territory, crucial conflicts do exist between tourist and agricultural water uses within the river basin. Additionally, there are important deficiencies in urban secondary water supply. Also inadequate irrigation methods and poor quality of water existing in some areas urge the implementation of management measures. Different ways to improve the water management situation were analysed: (a) structural options, (b) demand management options and (c) socio-economic measures. These options were analysed using a range of combinations of extreme demand and availability scenarios and ranked based on indicators reflecting the perception of the local stakeholders towards economic development and social and environmental sustainability. On a second phase, the formulation of strategies using the available options was addressed and two different strategies, resulting from a tentative timeframe of water management options combination, were applied aiming to achieve goals defined with regional stakeholders, namely: (a) on a first stage, the optimization of the domestic and irrigation water demand coverage and aquifer’s groundwater exploitation use ratio; (b) on a second stage, the determination of the water pricing increase necessary to achieve economical sustainability, aiming at cost recovery goals in accordance with the Water Framework Directive compliance. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

Keywords: WSM-DSS tool; water resources; sustainable management; Ribeiras do Algarve River Basin; strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-006-9106-3 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:21:y:2007:i:5:p:897-907

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-006-9106-3

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().