Water Management and the Climate Crisis

Climate change has gradually transformed from a local-scale phenomenon to a global crisis affecting numerous dimensions, including the ones related to water. Societies worldwide now perceive its risks and impacts, as they are directly affected by the ongoing transformations. Climate change is thus no longer just a matter for experts.

Living with extremes has become part of our daily lives as we are in a phase of permanent climate anomaly. Within the climate context, water issues are becoming more and more salient. For instance, water issues caused by climate change, including water security, availability, and conservation patterns, have influenced people’s lives and caused grave inequalities. In addition, different choices in terms of water related decision-making change the way such resources are managed and allocated across sectors.

 Climate change effects are becoming more tangible. Continued increase in emissions of climate-altering gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are alarming. The rise in the planet's average temperature has determined a worldwide alert. It has been long emphasized the need to limit the temperature increase below 1.5°C. However, between 2023 and 2024, such a threshold was already exceeded for more than 12 consecutive months. This permanent climate anomaly also translates into an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, whose critical effects are harder to manage.

Water-related issues are contributing to a number of profound inequalities. Results on water access, quality and distribution show geographical- dependent success rates. According to reports dedicated to access to water resources, about 1.6 billion people still do not have access to safe drinking water at home, while 2.8 billion are without sanitation. Groundwater reserves in the Global South are poorly understood and often overexploited.

Existing inequalities threaten to widen and delay the achievement of the sixth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - clean water and sanitation for all - well beyond the 2030 deadline. Several prominent voices have emerged. For instance, UNESCO is calling for more research in this area and the development of new tools for sustainable water management. Again, water issues are inextricably linked to extremes, including floods and droughts, shrinking ice caps, extensive fires and desertification, sea level rise, and overpopulated coastlines.

Education has been identified as one of key solutions “to advance the prospects of future generations” and to reduce inequalities. Education is conducive to adaptation, complementing new tools and technologies. It plays a crucial role not only in ensuring that the available solutions take hold, but also in fostering greater awareness and understanding of the issues at hand. In this regard, FERS School has been actively working to provide the tools necessary to contribute to this transformative change, for instance with the high-level training course on Water Resources, Land-use and Forestry.

The climate crisis is first and foremost a water crisis and is causing a profound shift in the hydrological (water) cycle. Water often takes center stage in the narrative of climate change, whether through scarcity or excess. Its availability and management are critical factors that influence the impact of climate events. The three main water-related issues are water access, quality, and distribution.

Water access refers to the availability of safe water for human use, water quality pertains to its safety and cleanliness in meeting health standards, and water distribution encompasses both the global physical distribution of freshwater resources and the infrastructures required to equitably deliver water across regions. According to World Bank data, approximately 74% of the global population had access to safely managed drinking water services in 2020. However, over 2 billion people still lack access to such services. Water quality remains a critical global issue. Over 80% of the world’s wastewater is discharged into the environment without adequate treatment, significantly polluting water resources. An estimated 1.8 billion people rely on drinking water sources contaminated with feces, exposing them to diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. The distribution of freshwater resources is marked by stark inequalities, which are expected to be further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Similarly, aging water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as the need to prevent losses, are among the major challenges facing the water sector.

Global warming profoundly impacts the water cycle, leading to alterations in precipitation patterns, surface water flows, and freshwater availability. These changes manifest differently across the globe, depending on regional climates and geographies, contributing to a growing array of water-related challenges that affect ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure, and human populations. One significant consequence is the shift in precipitation patterns. As temperatures rise, the atmosphere holds more moisture, resulting in increased rainfall and extreme weather events, like the ones in Valencia on October 29, 2024. The city received a year's worth of rain in just eight hours, triggering flash floods that turned streets into rivers, destroyed homes, and swept away vehicles. Other regions face prolonged droughts due to decreased rainfall. Climate change also accelerates the melting of glaciers and snowpacks, reducing the meltwater that feeds rivers and reservoirs. Additionally, sea level rise, in addition to its hazards for coastal communities, poses substantial risks to freshwater aquifers, heightening the likelihood of saltwater intrusion and compromising drinking water quality.

Groundwater, which is vital for food and water security, as well as societal resilience to climate change, faces its own challenges. Despite its critical importance, groundwater is unevenly distributed, and its direct and indirect benefits are often overlooked. Many aquifers lack adequate protection, and with increasing water scarcity worldwide, the significance of groundwater and the need for effective management cannot be overstated. Global groundwater abstraction reached 3,880 km³/year in 2017, according to recent estimates, supplying 69% of the total volume is abstracted for use in the agricultural sector, 22% for domestic uses, and 9% for industrial purposes. These percentages vary between the continents. These trends underscore the pressing need for adaptation strategies to mitigate the risks posed by a rapidly changing climate and ensure sustainable water management practices. Alessandro Gargini, Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Bologna and lecturer on the FERS course, hinted at the Management Aquifer Recharge (MAR) as potential solution for aquifers’ conservation:

“Increasing natural recharge, or the deliberate infiltration of surface water into aquifers, can address several water management challenges. The primary goal of this strategy is to counteract the depletion of groundwater storage by replenishing aquifers and preventing the lowering of groundwater levels that can result from over-extraction. Additionally, the infiltration of freshwater into aquifers can act as a barrier against saltwater, protecting freshwater resources from marine intrusion”.

Overall, the impacts of climate change on the water cycle are diverse and widespread. These changes present significant challenges for water management, food security, and ecosystem resilience, emphasizing the need for adaptation strategies that can help mitigate the risks posed by a rapidly changing climate.

The Italian water system exhibits gaps and challenges and is confronted daily by climate change impacts. The National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC), recalled the classification made by the OECD that had declared Italy subject to medium-high water stress.

Italy experienced multiple extreme weather events, including devastating floods in 2010, 2014, and September 2022, alongside severe droughts affecting regions like the Po Valley in 2017 and 2022. More recently, the floods in Emilia Romagna and Marche in September 2024 occurred just one year after the region experienced even more severe flooding. Concurrently, Sicily is facing an ongoing drought that has prompted water rationing in its major cities as of late September 2024.

The 2022 drought along the Po River marked a negative record in the basin and its causes may not be attributed solely to minimal rainfall. While precipitation levels were low, they were not so drastically reduced as to account for the extreme drought conditions observed, indicating that other influencing factors may also contribute. FERS course director Alberto Montanari, author of a study on the phenomenon, explained the causes of the worst drought of the last two centuries:

“The decrease in the river flow during the summer period was due to a combination of several interrelated elements. The increase in average temperatures meant that there was more rain than snow in winter. The little snow that fell melted earlier, boosting the winter flow, which dropped far more than usual in the summer, when high temperatures also caused increased evaporation. Finally, another factor seems to have been decisive, namely the increased demand for irrigation water in summer, also due to crops that need a lot of water to grow”.

The floods that hit Emilia-Romagna and Marche in 2023 and 2024 illustrate how both natural and human factors contribute to such disasters. In May 2023, heavy rainfall fell on an already saturated soil in the Romagna Apennines, triggering severe flooding. This resulted in landslides that destroyed mountain areas and rivers overflowing their banks, flooding a significant portion of the Romagna plain.

This series of extreme weather events highlights two critical factors. First, prolonged dry periods are frequently followed by intense rainfall, leading to flooding—a pattern that requires effective management strategies. Second, the vulnerability of affected areas represents a significant component of the climate risk assessment. The dense urbanization in those areas has exacerbated the effects. CMCC climatologist Paola Mercogliano explains:

“The effects of climate change should be considered together - for example, the disruptive effect of going from the drought of 2022 to the record rainfall, which in several pulses first saturated the soil and then caused rivers to overflow. And we need to consider how the other fundamental component of climate risk, land vulnerability, is also increasing. That is why it is so important, as we prepare to deal with the aftermath of these floods, that we give the utmost urgency to mitigation and work to reduce the vulnerability of these areas as much as possible”.

There exist multiple approaches that collectively minimize water extremes. Flood management can be enhanced through engineered solutions like retention basins and nature-based solutions (NbS) that restore natural water systems. For droughts, strategies such as rainwater harvesting and improving groundwater recharge are vital for sustainability and resilience.

The climate crisis demands diverse adaptation measures. Mitigation alone is insufficient, as the impacts of global warming are already being experienced. Depending on the context, either traditional or more diverse solutions have been selected to best meet local needs.

Ridracoli Dam

To build resilience against recurring water shortages, traditional responses have included constructing dams and reservoirs. These infrastructures serve multiple purposes, such as generating electricity, meeting irrigation demands, and supplying drinking water. Additionally, the reservoirs created by damming rivers often become popular tourist destinations. There are about 45,000 large dams in the world, a large portion of these can be found in China (where there are approximately 22,000 dams) and in India (with approximately 4,000). In Italy, the Italian Dams and Hydroelectric Infrastructure Technical service accounted for over 500, of which only 382 are in use.

Dams have been a successful solution for instance in Ridracoli. The Ridracoli dam, which was visited by the participants in the course on Water Resources, Land-use and Forestry by the FERS School, was designed in 1974 and completed in 1993. It ensures a reliable water supply for drinking and irrigation while also supporting hydroelectric power generation. The reservoir holds 33 mcm of water, enough to supply 50% of Emilia Romagna. The dam promotes ecological sustainability by regulating river flows and preserving water quality, thus protecting local biodiversity. Additionally, it has become a tourist attraction, contributing to the local economy and raising awareness about water conservation. Overall, the Ridracoli Dam exemplifies effective integration of environmental, social, and economic considerations in water resource management.

 It has to be noted that in addition to their undoubted usefulness in generating renewable energy and balancing water stress, there are also negative infrastructural and environmental externalities associated with dams such as sediment management and the problems of hydrogeological instability of slopes. Alessandro Gargini explained that:

“This is why an integrated use of surface and groundwater resources is important, adapted to the specific context and able to represent an ‘intelligent’ adaptation strategy to extreme water events.”

Vjosa River

Another notable example is the case of the Vjosa river. Along its course, which flows 272 km from north-west Greece to south-west Albania, the Vjosa is home to 1,100 animal species, among which 13 are threatened with extinction. It also holds an important tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Despite its economic and cultural importance, the river was threatened by plans to build more than 30 dams, mainly for hydroelectric power. These projects were opposed by local communities, supported by various activist groups, who called for the creation of a nature reserve to protect the entire river. More than 700 scientists and other personalities, who signed a petition launched by a group of Albanian scientists in 2020, who gave the cause international visibility, have sided with the Albanians. On June 13th, 2022, the Albanian government signed a memorandum with Patagonia to declare the Vjosa River a national river park. Less than a year later, on 13 March 2023, the protection of the river became law. The protected area covers 20,000 hectares and includes 400 km of waterways, including the Vjosa and part of its tributaries, with the hope of extending the protected area to Greece.

During the FERS course, students explored the contrast between the Ridracoli Dam and the Vjosa River and highlighted different approaches in water management. While the Ridracoli Dam exemplifies a balanced approach that integrates ecological sustainability with human needs, providing a reliable water supply and renewable energy, the Vjosa River offers a distinct perspective on water resource management, highlighting the challenge of preserving a wild ecosystem and cultural heritage with energy demand and proposed hydropower projects that threaten its natural flow and biodiversity. This comparison underscores the ongoing debate between development and conservation in water resource management. It shows how awareness and environmental education can support in making informed decisions in the water sector.

As we confront the multifaceted reality of climate change and its associated consequences, this crisis situation poses a colossal challenge. Complex issues intertwine various disciplines, including physical sciences, chemistry, ecology, and social sciences. This interconnectedness highlights the necessity for a holistic approach to understanding and addressing climate-related issues. Much effort should also be dedicated to improving and increasing skills as well as transferring knowledge, especially but not limited to the youngest generations of researchers and professionals. Researchers are tasked with not only investigating the scientific underpinnings of climate change but also bridging the gap between technological advances and scientific knowledge and identifying the links between various disciplines, while young professionals are in the forefront in dealing with the various effects of the climate crisis within their specific work areas.

Many questions thus arise within this context: how will climate change impact the water cycle? What models can be used and how uncertainty may be assessed? How are coastal and polar regions impacted by climate change through global warming, sea level rise and water-related hazards? How can we reduce the impact of water resources management? How can we sustainably manage water and what are the emerging risks for the future?

It is precisely to answer these and more questions that the Future Earth Research School is active and dedicated to leveraging education as a powerful tool to address pressing global challenges like climate change and water resource management. FERS School aims to expand available programs and initiatives to equip researchers with the knowledge and skills needed to develop innovative solutions to these critical issues. By fostering a culture of inquiry and collaboration, the School aims to empower the next generation of researchers and professionals to create a more sustainable and resilient future.

In this context, the high-level training course on Water Resources, Land-use and Forestry took place in the summer of 2022, with the scientific coordination of Alberto Montanari, Professor at the Department of Environmental Engineering of the University of Bologna together with a highly qualified panel of Italian and foreign scientists. The course tackled several dimensions of the water planet, namely droughts and floods, the less known world of groundwater, the engineering and naturalistic solutions for adaptation measures, and changes in land use and the proper management of forest resources. The contents were delivered within the conceptual framework of climate risk, which is the result of the probability of these events multiplied by local exposure and vulnerability. It touched on transdisciplinary assessments, equipping participants with strategies and methodologies to view climate change effects, manage water-induced hazards management and mitigation. Additionally, it emphasized the importance of integrating climate considerations into policy-making for adaptation. By employing interactive learning methods and advanced tools, the course fostered critical thinking and collaboration, empowering participants and raising awareness to the pressing challenges presented in the course.

In conclusion, the impacts of climate change are increasingly evident through the frequency of extreme weather events related to water, such as floods and droughts, which provide tangible evidence of a looming water crisis. Effective water management strategies, like the successful Ridracoli Dam, showcase how integrated approaches can mitigate these challenges and contribute to ecosystem preservation. In contrast, the ongoing fight to protect the Vjosa River highlights the importance of resisting harmful developments that threaten natural water systems. Smart water resources governance is also the objective of the LIFE CLIMAXPO Project where CMCC is a key partner, which aims at downscaling national adaptation strategies to align with local characteristics and climatic peculiarities in the Po River Basin District.

Alberto Montanari, FERS Course Director explained:

“Adaptation actions can take different forms, depending on the context and its social organization, and depending on the risk they are intended to reduce. There is no universal solution. Adaptation actions have an environmental impact in themselves and may lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The important thing is therefore to adopt solutions that minimize risks and increase resilience.”

The nuanced nature of adaptation actions in the context of climate change and resource management highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, as the effectiveness of adaptation strategies can vary significantly based on local conditions and social structures.

FERS Course Director also added regarding the wide portfolio of solutions:

“To cope with droughts and floods, the measures can be the most diverse, namely switching to tree varieties that tolerate heat better; making pavements permeable to water; building underground reservoirs, ‘green’ roofs to manage rainwater and heat, or light-coloured roofs to reduce the heat island effect; raising the level of roads to prevent flooding, and so on. But more generally, it is important to get a clear idea of local weak points, to plan new settlements to climate-proof them. And above all to raise public awareness of these issues that will be with us for a long time”.

As Giulio Boccaletti, scientific director of the CMCC and author of prominent books such as Water: A Biography and Siccità. Un Paese alle Frontiere del Clima, explained in a recent editorial on the drought in Sicily:

“The climate is changing much faster than in the past. We know that. But what we need to ask ourselves is: what do we want to do with this land in a different climate? What crops do we want to focus on? What kind of lifestyle do we want? What industries do we want to develop? These are the questions that should guide our response to a changing material context. Answering them, or choosing not to answer them as we do, is up to us. If the territory is a car in which we are traveling into the future, the problem is not just changing or improving the vehicle. It is about asking ourselves where we want to go”.

Addressing climate and water crises issues underscores the critical role of climate education in fostering informed communities capable of adapting to the changing water cycle and its implications for future generations. By learning from both successful and challenged water management efforts, we can better prepare for the complexities of a climate-affected world.

Sources

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