Dealing with Uncertainties in Fresh Water Supply: Experiences in the Netherlands

Wil Thissen (), Jan Kwakkel, Marjolein Mens, Jeroen Sluijs, Sara Stemberger, Arjan Wardekker and Diana Wildschut
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Wil Thissen: Delft University of Technology
Jan Kwakkel: Delft University of Technology
Marjolein Mens: Department of Flood and Drought Risk Analysis
Jeroen Sluijs: University of Bergen
Sara Stemberger: University of Bergen
Arjan Wardekker: University of Bergen
Diana Wildschut: University of Bergen

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2017, vol. 31, issue 2, No 8, 703-725

Abstract: Abstract Developing fresh water supply strategies for the long term needs to take into account the fact that the future is deeply uncertain. Not only the extent of climate change and the extent and nature of its impacts are unknown, also socio-economic conditions may change in unpredictable ways, as well as social preferences. Often, it is not possible to find solid ground for estimating probabilities for the relevant range of imaginable possible future developments. Yet, some of these may have profound impacts and consequences for society which could be reduced by timely proactive adaptation. In response to these and similar challenges, various approaches, methods and techniques have been proposed and are being developed to specifically address long-term strategy development under so-called deep uncertainty. This paper, first, offers a brief overview of developments in the field of planning under (deep) uncertainty. Next, we illustrate application of three different approaches to fresh water provision planning under uncertainty in case studies in the Netherlands: a resilience approach, oriented to (re) designing fresh water systems in such a way that they will be less vulnerable, resp. will be able to recover easily from future disturbances; a robustness approach, oriented to quantitative assessment of system performance for various system configurations (adaptation options) under a range of external disturbances, and an exploratory modeling approach, developed to explore policy effectiveness and system operation under a very wide set of assumptions about future conditions.

Keywords: Fresh water supply; Uncertainties; Adaptation; Resilience; Robustness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11269-015-1198-1

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