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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Drought Management Decision Support System by Means of Risk Analysis Models

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description

Droughts in arid and semiarid Mediterranean river basins have an increasing socioeconomic and environmental impact. The problem is especially complex in basins where droughts are very frequent and intense and where water resources are under a massive use. For that reason in the Mediterranean basins it is necessary to manage the water resources in constant alert in order to relieve the consequences of a drought. In this chapter a complete methodology for the mitigation of the droughts is defined. The methodology includes different tools: from the definition of an alert system for the different types of drought up to the simulation and optimization software for water system management. This methodology has been applied to the different hydrographic basins included in the Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar (CHJ, the local water agency) and it has been currently used during the extreme drought occurred in the Jucar river basin since the hydrological years 2004/05. This chapter shows how the proposed methodology is able to forecast the occurrence of a drought and to realize a water resources management focused on the mitigation of the economic, social and environmental effects of water shortage