CLIWAT- Adaptive and sustainable water management and protection of society and nature in an extreme climate

assignment/short description

Climate change simulations indicate that rainfall will increase in the North Sea region with significant seasonal variations. This will lead to higher groundwater levels (up to one meter), higher flux to rivers/coastal waters and a forced outwash of nutrients and pollutants from industrial areas, agriculture and landfills. Conditions for the design of roads, buildings etc. will change. Deltares participates in CLIWAT, a EU funded research project (INTERREG IV).

The project will apply groundwater and integrated hydrological models to assess the hydrological impacts of different climate scenarios with focus on water table fluctuations, river discharge, delineation of flood risk areas and saltwater intrusion.

The hydrological scenario simulations will be based on output from existing climate models and geological and geophysical measurements and modelling of the subsurface partly conducted in the project. The CLIWAT project will initiate important transboundary cooperation and evaluation of the effect of different climate scenarios in the EU North Sea region and establish predictive modelling tools for future simulations.

See  http://cliwat.eu/ for more information on the project.