Dear Mr. Long Recently I had ...

Dear Mr. Long

Recently I had the opportunity to work in a project, which aims at estimating the amount of water available for irrigation in ungauged semiarid catchments based on a global water balance model developed by the FAO (grid size: 10 km by 10 km). The idea of the project is to first understand the water cycle and the water balance within a specific catchment and then determine the maximum amount of water, which can be “extracted” or supplied to human users as e.g. agriculture without causing (major) damage to the ecosystem of the catchment.  Climate change affects / alters the water balance in a specific catchment and can be best assessed with different scenarios of future hydro meteorological conditions (precipitation, temperature,..)

In this sense water supply systems design should not only consider the demand but also the offer-side and its changes (actual water balance and the future water balance influenced by climate change).

I am however aware of the fact that estimating the changes in the water balance and determining the amount of water, which can be “extracted” without causing damages to the ecosystem of the catchment, is not a straightforward exercise.  

With kind regards

Richard Kuntner