Solutions for existing and future challenges in water governance

Global surface water bodies suffer multitude of human induced pressures that lead to the deterioration of water status through conditions of anoxia, eutrophication, pollution, depletion, among others, which compound water scarcity. Climatic and socio-economic changes will most likely exacerbate the water crises. However, effective water governance strategies can be deployed to mitigate water crisis and guarantee sustainable water use and ecosystem health.  Such strategies can be developed and implemented using a holistic modelling approach.  In this study, we aim at developing – through re-analysis and modelling – an adaptive water governance framework that can be utilized to ensure sustainable water-use and ecosystem health. The study will be piloted at the Möhne reservoir in the North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany – representing a multi-decadal time machine for hydroclimatic changes, socioeconomic dynamics and water governance by the Ruhrverband. The study will address five key questions; i) How did the drivers and pressures of the reservoir water status change over time? ii) How did the water governance structures change/respond over time? iii) How did the water quality and quantity change over time? iv) What are the likely future drivers, pressures and governance structures/responses? v) Are there strategies to compare with or transfer to/from other systems?

In order to reconstruct the drivers, pressures, status and impacts of the Möhne reservoir waters, with the respective management and policy responses over time, we start by re-analyzing the multi-decadal trajectory of a few representative variables. In this poster we highlight this using air temperature and precipitation, reservoir water level and population changes in the catchment.