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Climate Change Implications for Water Availability: A Case Study of Barcelona City

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  • Edwar Forero-Ortiz

    (Cetaqua, Water Technology Centre. Carretera d’Esplugues, 75, Cornellà de Llobregat, 08940 Barcelona, Spain
    FLUMEN Research Institute, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Calle del Gran Capità, 6, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Eduardo Martínez-Gomariz

    (Cetaqua, Water Technology Centre. Carretera d’Esplugues, 75, Cornellà de Llobregat, 08940 Barcelona, Spain
    FLUMEN Research Institute, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Calle del Gran Capità, 6, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Robert Monjo

    (FIC- Climate Research Foundation, 28013 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Barcelona city has a strong dependence on the Ter and Llobregat reservoir system to provide drinking water. One main concern for the next century is a potential water scarcity triggered by a severe and persistent rainfall shortage. This is one of the climate-driven impacts studied within the EU funded project RESCCUE. To evaluate potential drought scenarios, the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) hydrological model reproduces the water contributions by month that have reached the reservoirs, regarding the accumulated rainfall over each sub-basin, representing the available historical-observed water levels. For future scenarios, we adjusted the input data set using climate projections of rainfall time series data of the project RESCCUE. Local outputs from 9 different climate models were applied to simulate river basins’ responses to reservoirs’ incoming water volume. Analyzing these results, we obtained average trends of the models for each scenario, hypothetical extreme values, and quantification for changes in water availability. Future water availability scenarios for Barcelona central water sources showed a mean decrease close to 11% in comparison with the period 1971–2015, considering the representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) climate change scenario in the year 2100. This research forecasts a slight downward trend in water availability from rainfall contributions from the mid-21st century. This planned future behavior does not mean that the annual water contributions are getting lower than the current ones, but rather, identifies an escalation in the frequency of drought cycles.

Suggested Citation

  • Edwar Forero-Ortiz & Eduardo Martínez-Gomariz & Robert Monjo, 2020. "Climate Change Implications for Water Availability: A Case Study of Barcelona City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:1779-:d:325892
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philippe Roudier & Jafet C. M. Andersson & Chantal Donnelly & Luc Feyen & Wouter Greuell & Fulco Ludwig, 2016. "Projections of future floods and hydrological droughts in Europe under a +2°C global warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 341-355, March.
    2. Philippe Roudier & Jafet Andersson & Chantal Donnelly & Luc Feyen & Wouter Greuell & Fulco Ludwig, 2016. "Projections of future floods and hydrological droughts in Europe under a +2°C global warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 341-355, March.
    3. Jatin Anand & Ashvani Kumar Gosain & Rakesh Khosa, 2018. "Optimisation of Multipurpose Reservoir Operation by Coupling Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Genetic Algorithm for Optimal Operating Policy (Case Study: Ganga River Basin)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Honey-Rosés, Jordi & Acuña, Vicenç & Bardina, Mònica & Brozović, Nicholas & Marcé, Rafael & Munné, Antoni & Sabater, Sergi & Termes, Montserrat & Valero, Fernando & Vega, Àlex & Schneider, Daniel W., 2013. "Examining the Demand for Ecosystem Services: The Value of Stream Restoration for Drinking Water Treatment Managers in the Llobregat River, Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 196-205.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marc Velasco & Beniamino Russo & Robert Monjo & César Paradinas & Slobodan Djordjević & Barry Evans & Eduardo Martínez-Gomariz & Maria Guerrero-Hidalga & Maria Adriana Cardoso & Rita Salgado Brito & D, 2020. "Increased Urban Resilience to Climate Change—Key Outputs from the RESCCUE Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-25, November.

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