About us
Climate change will severely affect freshwater availability across much of Europe by the end of the 21st century. In a warmer climate, many river basins, especially in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region, are likely to become more prone to periods of water scarcity. The cost of drought in Europe will considerably increase as future droughts are expected to be more severe and long-lasting. How to deal with these climate change effects is not a long-term planning problem; it is rather a short/medium-term management challenge, which has already manifested its potential negative impact in several situations.
The main objective of SAHARA is enhancing drought resilience by expanding surface water storage infrastructures, including options like dam heightening, revision of lakes/reservoirs operating space, and construction of small storage reservoirs distributed on the territory. Specifically, SAHARA will develop a digital twin able to simulate the interdependent dynamics of coupled human-natural systems for exploring historical and future surface water availabilities and water demands, including the testing of the aforementioned diverse options for expanding water storage and the evaluation of alternative management policies that explore multi-sector synergies and tradeoffs. As a result, SAHARA will provide a decision analytic framework able to support the strategic planning of water storage expansion by quantitatively assessing the potential contribution to improving drought resilience under historical and projected climatic conditions in two different case studies in Northern Italy, namely the Adda River Basin and the Adige River Basin.
Adda River Basin
Located in the Italian Alps, the Adda River Basin is a highly controlled water system, including Lake Como (active capacity 247 Mm3), many Alpine hydropower reservoirs with an overall storage capacity of 545 Mm3 (twice the active capacity of Lake Como), and a wide irrigation-fed cultivated area (1,320 km2). Snowmelt during May-July is the most significant contribution to the accumulation of the seasonal storage, which is reallocated over the year with different and often competing strategies for maximizing crop and energy production.
Adige River Basin
The Adige river is the second longest Italian river, with a contributing area of 10,500 km2 at the gauging station of Vò Destro. The watershed is located in the southeastern Alps with terrain elevation ranging from 200 to 3900 m a.s.l. which makes the watershed well suited for hydropower generation in 34 hydropower plants with a total storage capacity of about 560 Mm3. Beside the presence of hydropower, the watershed is intensively exploited with a large number of small withdrawals associated with a variety of water uses, including agricultural, civil, and industrial.
Partners
Cover Image by Pixabay on Pexels | Adige image © Walter Donegà (@walterbz)
SAHARA is part of the PNRR MUR – M4C2 – Investimento 1.1 – Fondo per il Programma Nazionale della Ricerca (PNR) e Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) – P20227NPLW