Integrated Water Management Approach for Adaptation to Climate Change in Highly Water Stressed Basins.

Adaptation aims at increasing the resilience of natural and human systems to current and future impacts of climate change. The main objective of the current research is to introduce an innovative methodological framework which can effectively assess adaptation measures in basins with severe water deficits by coupling hydrology, climate change and management scenarios, leading to accurate decision making. In this paper, both supply and demand adaptation measures were proposed in line with various regional, national and European policies in order to improve the severe water problem of the Mygdonia basin. The overexploitation of the surface water systems (Lakes Koronia and Volvi) and groundwater resources of the Mygdonia basin during the previous decades, along with the projected decrease of the future water availability, due to climate change, accentuate the need for concerted action towards adaption to climate change. The measures include the increase of a stream diversion towards Lake Koronia, the increase of the embankment elevation at the outfall point of Lake Volvi, the restructuring of crops and their combinations. The measures were examined in terms of their sustainability and effectiveness in the short-term (2020–2050) and long-term (2050–2080) future periods under the most reliable climatic model. The results indicate that the application of demand management measures is more efficient compared to supply oriented solutions for addressing the future water deficit of the Mygdonia water system. The combination of crop restructuring and the decrease of agricultural land proved to be the most efficient and sustainable solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]