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Water Management

Application of Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing for Flood Protection Planning Over the Sajó Valley

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The project was set up following the flooding of 2010, when Hungary experienced a record rainfall in May and June and consequently a nation-wide flood came about on smaller and larger rivers. The most affected areas and settlements were in the Sajó valley. An approximately 100 year return period flood wave arrived to the Hungarian border in June 2010 that increased to a once-in-200 year flood on the lower parts of the river.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The Sajó valley airborne laser scanning and aerial digital imagery have been made on 121 km2 area in Hungary (17th June 2013), and on 190 km2 area in Slovakia (17-18th July 2013).

Environmental Management Plan for the Lake Uromiyeh Ecosystem, Iran

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Lake Uromiyeh is shallow (6-8 m deep) and has no outflow, so all the precipitation falling in the basin evaporates either from the land or from the lake itself. The evaporating water leaves the dissolved salts behind. The actual salinity depends on the amount of water in the lake, i.e. the lake level. These circumstances led to the development of a relatively simple ecology, populated by salt-loving organisms at each level of the food chain.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The principles of integrated water management were applied. The key tool in it was a decision support system (DSS) that combined data from all related fields.

The advantage of using a DSS in integrated water resources management is that it provides the possibility of testing outcomes of different water allocation schemes, i.e. of different scenarios.

The DSS for Lake Uromiyeh incorporated several software tools, comprising four major logical units (Figure 2).

GIS Based Communication Platform for the Sustainable Management of Transboundary Water Resources in Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Kaliningrad Region (Russia)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Pregolya and the Neman rivers are heavily affected by anthropogenic pressures in all four countries. The lack of basin wide information on pressures and current ecological and chemical status of water bodies is an important issue for the sustainable management in the region. Due to the political situation in the region the sustainable transboundary management of river basins was limited. So far the planning of water resources was usually based only on national data.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

A GIS database consisting of 12 transboundary GIS layers (Table 1) and more than 100 attribute fields was created. The database content is based on national information. The information for different countries was obtained from various sources: official GIS maps, official statistical data, digitized paper maps, reports, literature, etc. The long list of sources meant that the detail level of the map was diverse. The data harmonization was necessary to provide the unified basin wide information layers.

Modeling and Visualization of Water Use in an Arid Region: Case Study from El Paso, Texas-Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

This case study took place in the Rio Grande valley which is the fastest growing region in the United States. Water in the southwest can act as a break on the economic development of this region.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The model was structured into three main sections of hierarchical blocks: population, water demand and water supply (Figure 2).  From these sections, the Hueco Bolson storage level was determined.  Three plotters were then used to plot demand, population and Hueco Bolson Storage levels.

Use of Remote Sensing and GIS in Water Resources Management: North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The North-Western Sahara Aquifer System, which stretches over an area of more than one million square kilometers, is shared by Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. Due to the structural configuration and climate type of the region, the recharge of the NWSAS is very limited. These aquifer systems represent geological reserves whose natural outlets (springs and foggaras) led to the development of oases where people lived, for centuries ago, in perfect harmony with the Saharan ecosystem.

ICT Application / Outcome: 

As water resources are mainly related to agriculture in the area of interest, a first vegetation mapping was realized based on MODIS time-series NDVI covering the NWSAS area over the last 10 years in order to establish a first vegetation areas inventory, to better understand the spatial distribution and year-to-year variability in irrigated areas.

Results:

Using ICTs to Link Spatial Planning and Management Approaches for Coastal, River Basin, and Marine Areas

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

Coastal zone pressures cannot be effectively assessed within a geographic coverage limited to coastal zones: both upstream activities at river basin level and marine activities impact environmental conditions in the coastal area. The latter are also naturally shaped by the material and energy transfers between coastal and surrounding ecosystems (e.g. sediment transport, water quality, storm surges, river discharge, floods).

ICT Application / Outcome: 

Integrated approaches to managing resources, pressures and impacts, have received considerable attention at river basin (Integrated River Basin Management / IRBM) and coastal area (Integrated Coastal Zone Management / ICZM) levels, within the overall framework of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).