Climate change and the impact on drinking water supply in the Meuse river basin

The AMICE project shows we should expect a decrease of flow rates in the River Meuse of between 10% and 40% in low flow time periods. The total water demand from the River Meuse for drinking water production on average is 15 m(3)/s while in the future longer periods of time shall occur with flow rates between 20 and 30 m(3)/s at Monsin. In this situation there is a serious pressure on availability of the River Meuse as a source for the supply of drinking water, but not only due to quantitative aspects. Also the water quality can deteriorate to critical values due to lower flow rates caused by climate change and standards can be breached for longer periods of time.