Water policy at EU level

Transcription

1 Rodrigo Maia

2 Water policy at EU level In Europe, 60% of the territory in the whole of Europe is located in international river basins Among the EU27 Member States exists: 110 river basin districts 40 of which international National and International River Basin Districts (EU, 2007) 2

3 Water policy at EU level Main focus: Integrated Water Resources Management at the river basin level, reflecting hydrological realities regardless of administrative and political boundaries. Provides an overall framework within which Community, national and regional authorities can develop integrated and coherent water policies; Assures that environmental quality objectives and standards are established on a common basis throughout the Community; Guides Member States to develop a River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) for each river basin district lying on its territory, in order to achieve good status for all of Europe s surface and groundwater within a 15-year period. In case of an international river basin with territory within the EU, Member States shall: (i) guarantee that an International River Basin District is formed; and (ii) shall be required to ensure coordination and cooperation, producing a single RBMP or, in case that is not possible, producing each a plan for their territory s river basin part. Creates the possibility to complement the River Basin Management Plans through specific programs and management Plans, at sub-basin, sectoral or problem level (ex. Drought Management Plans) 3

4 WFD goals, current limitations and fostering work The WFD is a dynamic Directive as different Daughters Directives have been created since then in order to fulfil the identified insufficiencies, namely on: - groundwater (Directive 2006/118/CE) - floods (Directive 2007/60/CE) However, additional efforts are being carried out regarding droughts mitigation, a more relevant problematic in southern European countries Extension and severity of droughts situations in Europe in 2003 SPI index ( 4

5 EU Drought Management Plans Framework EU Guidelines for DMP The EU Water Scarcity and Droughts Expert Network document (Oct 2007) summarizes the basic elements to be included on a Drought Management Plans, namely: 1) Indicators and thresholds establishing onset, ending, and drought severity levels 2) Measures to be taken in each drought phases in order to prevent deterioration of water status and to mitigate negative drought effects. 3) Organizational framework to deal with drought For transboundary basins, coherence between indicators of the involved countries shall be taken into account 5

6 EU Drought Management Plans Framework In order to achieve this specific objectives, DMPs are considered to include 3 basic supporting elements: 1. Drought early warning system. 2. Drought indicators correlation with thresholds for different stages of drought as it intensifies and recedes. 3. Measures to achieve specific objectives in each drought phase. Regarding the development of drought early warning indicators system: The definition of indices or indicators for the EU countries is still on a preliminary phase. It is considered that it should rely on hydrological indicators representative of the spatial and temporal situation of drought. 6

7 The Iberian Peninsula Portugal and Spain share five river basins: Minho, Lima, Douro, Tejo and Guadiana, covering and area of km 2 of which 21% belong to Portugal and represent 65% of the Portuguese territory. 95% of this area is occupied by the Douro, Tejo and Guadiana river basins Portugal and Spain, have been celebrating several Treaties and Conventions since the 18th Century, having in mind the establishment of a common water management coordination. 7

8 Treaty of Limits (1864; 1926) Convention on the Regulation of the Hydro-electric Utilisation of the International Part of the River Douro (1927; 1964) Convention on the Regulation of the Hydraulic Utilisation of the International Parts of the Rivers Minho, Lima, Tejo, Guadiana, Chança and their Tributaries (1968) Convention on Co-operation for Portuguese-Spanish River Basins Protection and Sustainable Use, usually referenced as the Albufeira Convention (1998), aiming at (i) solving the 1964 and 1968 active Conventions mutually recognized limitations; (mostly concerned with sharing of hydro-electric potential and the bordering river stretches) (ii) defining the framework of bilateral co-operation for freshwater and groundwater protection as also of the related aquatic ecosystems and also for sustainable use of the 5 shared rivers watershed resources. (iii) introducing a basin-based water management and a decision-making process in compliance with the WFD, framed on coordinated River (sub-) Basin Management Plans, one per country. 8

9 The Albufeira Convention Institutional Boards Parts Conference High deliberative instance, with political co-ordination Commission for Convention Development and Appliance (CADC) Deliberative, consultative and supervisory functions, namely (def.in 1998): to define and establish, for each shared river basin, the necessary flow regime; to define common quality criteria and purposes for transboundary waters; to do common studies on floods and drought situations and to define corresponding measures to adopt The Commission's is composed by two delegations, one Portuguese and one Spanish (maximum of 9 elements per delegation), with equal number of members designated by each party s government. Besides the Plenary Sessions: 4 Work Groups: Flow regime, droughts and emergency situations Information exchange Hydraulics structures security and floods Water Framework Directive and Water Quality 1 Sub-commission on Public participation Permanent Technical Secretariat (created 2008, to ensure a good efficiency and efficacy of the CADC) Objectives for Definition of the methodologies for the elaboration of the M anagement Plans of the 5 River Basin Districts - Adequacy of the flow regime of the River Basin Districts M anagement Plans with the flow regime of the Convention - Make operational a Procedures Manual - Assessment of the bi-national public participation process. 9

10 The Iberian Peninsula bilateral cooperation Some important interrelated bilateral water issues need the development and intensification of bilateral cooperation: necessary institutional adequacy 10

11 Institutional adequacy a) the Spanish Demarcaciones Hidrográficas and the Portuguese RH s b) Portuguese River Basin Districts Administrative Regions 11

12 The Iberian Peninsula bilateral cooperation Some important interrelated bilateral water issues need the development and intensification of bilateral cooperation: necessary institutional adequacy establishment of an ecological river flow regime The Albufeira Convention states that the necessary flow regime shall be defined and guaranteed for each shared river basin, having in mind, namely, environmental goals. Temporarily, only values for the minimum guaranteed annual flows were set (but non applicable to exceptional years ) 12

13 Flow regime Monitoring stations defined in the Albufeira Convention Frieira Dam Miranda Dam Crestuma Dam Saucelle Dam Águeda Hydrometric Station Cedillo Dam Badajoz Weir Ponte Muge Hydrometric Station Pomarão Hydrometric Station Source: 98 s Portuguese Spanish Convention 13

14 New minimum flow regime for the Minho, Douro and Tejo rivers Minimum guaranteed flows guaranteed under the Albufeira Convention (since Feb. 2008) (a) upstream bordering section; (a1) common stretch intermediate section; (b) section by the mouth of the river; (*) sum of minimum flows at Cedillo and minimum required flows in the Portuguese River basin. NOTE: HS stands for Hydrometric Station This flow regime may be revised according to the elaboration and application of the River Basin Management Plans 14

15 Droughts Management & Planning in the Iberian Peninsula context 15

16 Portugal: Droughts & Climate conditions Average annual precipitation rounds 960 mm: In the south some local regions reach values as low as 400mm. Annual precipitation may vary three fold in time (year) and five fold from (coastal) north to (inner) south. The southern regions (namely Alentejo and also Algarve) are the most drought vulnerables, especially in what regards agriculture production and domestic supply/tourism. Average Portuguese hydrological year (INAG) Risk of runoff affection during Droughts on Guadiana s basin (INAG) 16

17 Portugal: Droughts Management experience In Portugal, drought situations were traditionally managed on a reactive response approach (emergency situations) Drought situation are monitored by the Water Institution (INAG) based on cumulated precipitation values along the hydrological year, with a drought situation confirmation the 8 th month (May) s Drought Situation October Hydrological year January March Intermediate rainfall evaluations May September Drought confirmation (8th month) 2004/05 was ranked as the worst rainfall affection of the last 60 years (PDSI classification in terms of area affected)); A special commission was created, with capacity to monitor and implement appropriate mitigation measures for drought effects minimization (Commission for 2005 s Drought situation);. Need of new and systematic procedures regarding Drought management emerged, namely: The creation of an integrated Drought Early warning and management system; The establishment of a reliable monitoring system of water sources availabilities (surface and groundwater sources) as well as the estimation of the main water uses for different sectors (volumes and monthly distribution). Wider promotion of Water Efficient use; 17

18 Expected developments on Drought monitoring in Portugal (with support of FEUP s Research group) Alert and Management System (on study) To constitute a drought early warning system enabling the continuous evaluation of indicators results, as well as the stipulation of correspondent level of drought s severity alert and the simulation of possible structural and non structural mitigation measures (by means of a Decision Support System) Decision Support System Meteorological Evaluation Agricultural Evaluation Hydrological Evaluation Socio-Economic Evaluation Ex. SPI %NP PDSI Soil moisture NDVI Runoff Water volumes stored Groundwater tables Inflows from Spain Operative Indicators (Ex. Balance demand/availabilities) Evaluation of impacts record 18

19 Expected developments on Drought monitoring in Portugal (with support of FEUP s Research group) Definition of Operative Indicators (on study) Main steps for definition of Operative indicators for Portugal (at river basin level): 1. Regional Characterization (water sources and water uses); 2. Definition of Unit Area of Analysis (associated demand); 3. Risk and Vulnerability analysis of water supplies for different water uses; 4. Selection of representatives Indicators; 5. Simulation and Validation. Validation through Drought Impacts evaluation Operative indicators must be validated through the comparison with real drought impacts (needed a better systematization of Drought Impacts record); 19

20 Expected developments on Drought monitoring in Portugal (with support of FEUP s Research group) Suggested System to collect records on Drought Impacts (on study) It can be implemented through an automatic and on-line system to collect Drought impacts reports by each river basin for different water uses: INAG General information for the country Public General coordination Information for different river basins ARH Measures to be applied Drought Impact record information about different water uses Representatives of different water sectors Drought Impact record System Drought Alert and Management System 20

21 Spain: Droughts & Climate conditions Average rainfall conditions characterized by high variability in time and space, rounding average values of 700 mm. Like in the Portuguese situation, values lower than 300mm occur in some southern regions. In Spain, drought situations normally result in strong reductions of surface runoff (in some cases, reaching almost 80%). These effects are of increased importance in inner regions of river basins of the South. Map with the percentage of river flow reduction between 1991/ when compared with the equivalent values in the wider period of 1940/41 to 1995/96 (Libro Blanco del Agua, 2000) 21

22 Spain: Droughts management experience Tools for Drought Management in Spain: Till 1995 the management of Drought situations was undertaken as an emergency management (as in Portugal); The serious situation lived from 2004 to 2006 deserved a special attention from the Spanish National Government resulting on the development of current tools for Drought management: (i) (ii) Drought special plans for each river basin; Correspondent s ystem of operative indicators; (iii) Emergency plans for water supply systems with more than inhab. Spanish Indicators System (MMAE, 2007) 22

23 Spanish Indicators System Global Hydrological Indicator System (HIS) Operative Drought Indicators(hydrometeorological variables): - Volumes stored on reservoirs; - Groundwater tables on aquifers; - River flow levels; - Reservoir s discharges; - Cumulated precipitation in significant meteorological stations; - Snowpack (where significant). - Drought s severity final evaluation is achieved with a standardization of the different type of variables through a special Index: Índice de Estado ; - Is supposed to enable assessment, with sufficient anticipation, of different drought severity levels in order to adopt adequate mitigation measures and actions; - Supports the implementation of Specific Drought Plans at the river basin level. 23

24 Spanish Indicators System Drought index ( índice de estado ) of the spanish Guadiana river basin 24

25 Spanish Indicators System Global Drought index ( índice de estado ) of the spanish Guadiana river basin 25

26 Spanish Drought Management Support Forecasting (Pilot River Basin) Case Study of Júcar - Drought management support system by means of risk analysis models(andreu et al., 2007): Methodology to forecast the occurrence of a drought and focus on the analysis and selection of mitigation measures; Combination of a DSS and a runoff simulation model to evaluate the risk of failure due to operative drought; Evaluation on Feb 06 Deterministic forecast: Evaluation of future reservoir storage using same inflows of a historical drought year; Stochastic forecast: Use of statistical properties the natural hydrological cycle to define most probable inflow With scenarios the application considering the of current situation of the natural water system; mitigation measures 26

27 Spanish Drought Management Support Forecasting (Pilot River Basin) Case Study of Júcar - Drought management support system by means of risk analysis models(andreu et al., 2007): Methodology to forecast the occurrence of a drought and focus on the analysis and selection of mitigation measures; Combination of a DSS and a runoff simulation model to evaluate the risk of failure due to operative drought; With the application of mitigation measures 27

28 Iberian Shared river basins Indicators Drought water management foreseen in the Albufeira Convention Art.19 Both sides coordinate actions to prevent and control Drought and Water Scarcity situations, setting the exceptional mechanisms to mitigate consequent effects and define the nature of exceptionality to the general regime established in the present Convention, especially in what regards the good status of water bodies, under the applicable Communitarian laws; ( ) Both sides ( ) undertake joint studies of Drought and Water Scarcity situations to define measures to be applied and define the criteria and indicators of the exceptional regime, ( ); ( ) In case of lack of the referred indicators and measures, are adopted those defined in the Convention. In 2003, the CADC specific workgroup on droughts agreed a two phases work, aiming to build a simplified and homogeneous indicator system, specific to the identification and characterization of droughts: 1)The establishment of an indicator's system and respective trigger values; 2)The identification of the main uses to be assured under special circumstances, That system still has not been created. 28

29 Iberian Shared river basins Indicators Meanwhile: - Spain finished the Special Action Plans for drought situations for each basin, that counts with its own indicators (described before); and, - Portugal is (beginning) to work (independently) on the preparation of its own drought management plans. It should emphasized that the correspondent indicators should be common and/or homogenized between both countries Douro river basin: Pluviometer stations: Salamandra (Matacán) León (Virgen del Camino) Soria (Observatório) Tejo river basin: Cáceres Madrid (Retiro) Guadiana river basin: Talavera Rela (Base aérea) Ciudad Real Not used on Indice de Estado definition Not used on Indice de Estado definition Used for Indice de Estado definition in combination with other pluviometer stations 29

30 Iberian Shared river basins Indicators Comparison between Indice de Estado and 98 Convention s indicators for Douro What is the relation with Shared Rivers Agreements? Índice de Estado 98 Convention s reference pluviometers 30

31 Climate Change frame in the Iberian Peninsula 31

32 Climate change The WFD, specially through the process of elaboration of River Basin manage ment plans (6 year cycles) beginning in 2009, enables the integration of climate change effects considerations and elaboration of regional policies and practical implementation of measures. At the Iberian Peninsula level, the two countries are at different stages in addressing climate change: - In Portugal, a specific national assessment was made (under a research Project SIAM Scenarios, Impacts and Adaptation Measures in Portugal). - In addition to a similar assessment program (ECCE Evaluación de los Impactos del Cambio Climatico en España) Spain already prepared a National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change (PNACC, 2006) 32

33 Policy for climate change in Portugal Portuguese SIAM s Scenarios, Impacts and Adaptation Measures Assessment Program The evaluation of Climate Change effects on water resources mainly consisted on the analysis at regional scale (wider than river basin scale); Average annual and seasonal surface runoff and gw recharge evolution were generated by a rainfall-runoff model (Temez); Global inputs of Precipitation and Temperature series obtained from the European climate models (HadCM3 B2a, A2c and HadRM2); Main guidelines were pointed out, but no real implementation of measures or a deepen study work program on the subject followed. 33

34 Policy for climate change in Spain National Adaptation Plan (PNACC, 2006) in Spain Establishes a first work program on Climate Change Impacts evaluation over climate scenarios, water resources, biodiversity and coastal areas affection; The work under development follows the main sequence of models application, for simulation of the different river basins (either national or international) (CEDEX, 2008): Climate models for generation of climatic scenarios to obtain the main expected evolution on atmospheric conditions (precipitation and temperature); Rainfall-runoff model for simulation of the hydrological cycle on natural regime (river flow, gw recharge); Models for Demand evolution (agriculture, domestic supply, industry); Models for simulation of storage s evolution on the existent exploitation systems (based on inflows, water demands and hydrological indicators state definition). 34

35 First result divulgation of the National Adaptation Plan development (March 2008): already have a complete database on climate regional scenarios for Spain s XXI century; working on the adaptation of these scenarios for simulation; use of numerical models for natural water resources, changes on demands (agriculture and domestic supply) and affections of water storages on exploitation systems; changes on past natural water resources regime (runoff and groundwater recharge) for the entire country being evaluated (for the establishment of reference conditions); improving the simulation of future development scenarios for quantification of water demands for agriculture (crop models developed under FAO standards). Simulation of all exploitation systems existent in Spain (CEDEX, 2008) 35

36 Conclusions Portugal and Spain are carrying out a big internal effort, namely in institutional terms, to adequate to WFD goals and plan of actions. The Albufeira Convention points to a basin-based water management and a decision-making process in compliance with the WFD, framed on coordinated River (sub-) Basin Management Plans, one per country. The CADC is turning to be not only the driving force for the Convention appliance but also for a common and co-operative WFD Iberian implementation process. A great effort is needed in terms of national (Portugal) and shared (Iberian) drought monitoring and management issues. A coordinated strategy to take into account and adapt drought management to climate change at the Iberian scale shall be developed. 36

37 Thank you! 37