Climate change impacts on water availability - Adaptation to Water Scarcity and Drought in Germany

The available renewable water resources of a country are sub-ject to natural interannual variability. However, in Germany, the value of the long-term water availability (of the climate normal period 1961-1990) was exceeded or reached only four times between 2000 and 2018. In particular, the years 2003 and 2018 were characterised by extreme drought and total water supply was significantly below the long-term mean. For the first time since records began, this was followed by a sec-ond significantly dry year, particularly in the east and north of the country. The project "Impact of Climate Change on Water Availability -Adaptation to Drought and Water Scarcity in Ger-many" (WADKlim) funded by the German Environment Agen-cy (UBA) investigates the effects of drought and water scarcity on rivers and lakes as well as on water supply, soil water bal-ance and groundwater availability in Germany. Detailed litera-ture studies and the implementation of mGROWA, TSMP and WaterGAP3 models allow the identification of regional hot-spots with regard to the impacts of water scarcity and drought on water-related sectors and aquatic ecosystems. Further-more, the project analyses current and future water use con-flicts in Germany, and evaluates and develops measures to avoid these conflicts. This includes the development of a con-cept for regional water councils to strengthen coordination between water-related sectors. The project also analyses op-portunities and risks related to water reuse for irrigation in ur-ban areas.