Integration of climate change adaptation in drought and water conservation plans

Essential for a drought management and/or water conservation plan is the identification of relevant stakeholders having a stake in water supply, drought planning and water conservation. These stakeholder groups must be involved and fairly represented in an early stage of the plan development. Participation in the planning process gives stakeholders an opportunity to develop an understanding of one another's viewpoints, and to generate collaborative solutions. Local stakeholders have the best knowledge of the different water use sectors and components of the hydrological cycle and can ensure that targets are coherent and are implemented where the socio-economic costs are the lowest. Active participation contributes to achieving a balanced management of the water sources minimising conflicts among different uses and impacts on the environment.

A good approach is to establish working groups or fora that gather identified interested parties, experienced and recognized experts in the water field that can advise and consult during the development of the plans. In addition, sectoral tables where discussions can be more fluent, and small groups of stakeholders can be considered as useful tools to promote public participation. Public information and consultation can follow regulated or legislated procedures (e.g., official bulletins) or broad and easily accessible publications and electronic means of information, being the later more commonly used by society.

A major success factor for the design and implementation of drought management and water conservation plans is the availability of in-depth knowledge about:

· the pattern of water uses and their contribution to welfare;

· the hydrological conditions of water bodies and related medium- to long-term climate change projections;

· the drivers influencing water demand in the water-intensive economic sectors and public water consumption.

For a successful drought management and water conservation plan an active stakeholder involvement and a good dialogue between science and policy makers are necessary during the entire planning process. Furthermore, the drought management and water conservation plan should be included in or coordinated with river basin management plans (RBMPs) required by the EU Water Framework Directive. The establishment of effective drought warning systems further contributes to the success of the drought management and water conservation plan implementation.

Conflicts between social, economic, and environmental values and interests can hamper the needed collaboration during the plan design and implementation, in particular when water resources become scarcer. Legal constraints during the planning process relate to water rights, existing public trust laws, requirements for public water suppliers, liability issues, amongst others.

The costs associated with the development of a state-level drought management and water conservation plan can be estimated between 50,000 and 100,000 euro. Implementation costs vary considerably, depending on the considered scale, the severity of the problem, the local characteristics of the water bodies and water uses, and the set of planned measures. The costs must always be weighed against the losses that would occur in case no plan was in place.

The benefit is that all economic sectors can continue activities in an organised way, but with reduced water levels, meaning that there is less economic and environmental disruption compared to an unmanaged drought situation.

Regulation on minimum requirements for water reuse for agricultural irrigation

In order to address the issue of water scarcity and droughts in the EU, in 2007 the European Commission issued a Communication “Addressing the challenge of water scarcity and droughts in the European Union”. The communication lists a set of policy options, implementable as a concerted EU action to increase water efficiency and water savings and to improve drought preparedness and risk management. The Water Framework Directive, the flagship of the EU Water Policy, recognises droughts as potential threats which may undo the efforts to achieve good ecological status of the Community water bodies. In November 2012 a Policy Review for water scarcity and droughts was completed and integrated in the "Blueprint for Safeguarding European Waters". The review concluded that there had been progress in implementing the policy instruments suggested in the EC communication of 2007, but that the overall objective of reverting water scarcity and drought trends had not been achieved. The “Blueprint” encouraged Member States to better integrate drought risk management in their future River Basin Management Plans to ensure consistency in the management of water resources. In 2020, the European Commission released a new “Regulation on minimum requirements for water reuse for agricultural irrigation” which is relevant for water conservation and sets out the rules for minimum requirements for the safe reuse of treated urban wastewater for agricultural irrigation.

The increasing severity of droughts in the European Union and the need for action has been recognised by the “new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change”, adopted in February 2021. The strategy proposes a wider use of drought management plans and measures to increase the water retention capacity of soils and safe water reuse.

The implementation time for drought management and/or water conservation plans depends on several factors such as the size of the affected area, the different stakeholder interests, and legal and social implications. Typical implementation times lie between 1 to 5 years.

If properly developed and implemented, drought management and water conservation plans are usually medium-term measures (> 5 years). To ensure their viability over a long time, they should be regularly evaluated taking climatic and social changes, new technologies and new laws into account. Evaluation and adaptation after drought events also plays an important role.