WATExR

Extreme Climate Events and Water Quality

ERA4CSClimate services

Climate extreme events, like heat waves, droughts, and floods, stress ecosystems and compromise their capacity to provide key services related to water. However, despite the vulnerability of the water quality sector to climate extremes, there has been limited development of solution-oriented tools integrating Climate Services and ecosystem impacts modeling. WATExR emerges to co-develop practical tools for anticipating climate extreme events and their impacts on ecosystem services provided by aquatic ecosystems.

Despite the vulnerability of the water quality sector to climate extremes, there has been limited development of solution-oriented toolsintegrating seasonal prediction of extreme events and ecosystem impacts modelling.
WATExR is bridging the gap between two research communities (climate and freshwater sciences) that have been working in isolation.WATExR is co-developing solutions to anticipate and manage the impacts of extreme events on water quality, using QGIS plugins. Pilots for prediction salmon fisheries and water quality in reservoirs already in use!
WATExR has defined a new Impact Sector in the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP): the Lake Sector.The first model runs on the impacts of climate change on lakes are already executing!

About

Climate extreme events, like heat waves, droughts, and floods, stress ecosystems and compromise their capacity to provide key services related to water. However, despite the vulnerability of the water quality sector to climate extremes, there has been limited development of solution-oriented tools integrating Climate Services and ecosystem impacts modeling. WATExR emerges to co-develop practical tools for anticipating climate extreme events and their impacts on ecosystem services provided by aquatic ecosystems.

WATExR contributes to the implementation of the European Roadmap for Climate Sciences, delivering an application demonstrating the potential benefit of CS for water quality management. In particular, we are developing tools to anticipate the impacts of climate extremes on water quality, supply, and fisheries (for instance, harmful algal blooms development during a heatwave), using seasonal climate prediction. The tools developed in WATExR assist in the adaptation of the water sector to a future with more frequent climate extremes, offering anticipation to managers, so they have time to devise strategies to cope with extreme events before they strike (for instance, stocking reagents in treatment plants before the impact of a severe storm on a water supply reservoir).

Rafael Marcé

Water Research Scientist

I am Dr. Rafael Marcé, coordinator of the WATExR project. My research has always been related to water quality in lakes and reservoirs, with a strong focus on the interface between science and industry. This primed my research with the ambition to deliver useful tools to managers and policy makers. WATExR is a wonderful opportunity to engage in a research program totally oriented to deliver operational tools to solve one of the most pressing demands from the water sector.

Project consortium

Marine Institute
Catalan Institute for Water Research
University of Cantabria
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Aarhus University
Dundalk Institute of Technology
Norwegian Institute for Water Research
Uppsala University

Show all partners

• Catalan Institute for Water Research, Spain is in charge of the Project Coordination.
• Universidad de Cantabria, Spain – works on Seasonal climate prediction.
• Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Germany – is in charge of Water quality modelling.
• Aarhus University, Denmark leads the QGIS plug-in development.
• Marine Institute Galway, Ireland is responsible for the Fisheries work.
• Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, works on Extreme events and water quality.
• Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway
• and Uppsala University, Sweden are in charge of respectively Watershed water quality modelling and – Water quality modelling in lakes.

Together with co-developers (stakeholders and policy makers) from 10 institutions from Europe and Australia, such as Aigües Ter-Llobregat and the Catalan Water Agency (Spain), SAWater (Australia), MORSA (Norway), Wupperverband (Germany), and the Ministry of Environment and Food (Denmark).

Documents

Output can be found on the project website: https://watexr.eu/.

No items found

News & Events

Parent programme

ERA4CS

European Research Area for Climate Services

ERA-NET Cofund for Climate Services - This ERA-NET Consortium has been designed to boost the development of efficient Climate Services in Europe, by supporting research for developing better tools, methods and standards on how to produce, transfer, communicate and use reliable climate information to cope with current and future climate variability.

19

countries

130

partners

26

projects