Future projection of water resources based on digitalisation and open data in a water-rich region: a case study of the city of Klagenfurt

Abstract

Implementation of different strategies on the demand and supply side to deal with potential water scarcity is based on a comparison of future water demand and availability of water resources based on different scenarios of climate change and population growth. Especially, the Alpine region is characterised by many small and medium water supply systems (WSSs) having neither human resources nor time for advanced planning, requiring simple methods for estimating future development. Therefore, the aim of this work is to provide future projections of water demand, resource availability, and drinking water quality for an Alpine area based on simple approaches with minimal data requirements. As the results of the case study show, linear and polynomial regression with precipitation and temperature data can illustrate the temporal variation of system input and drinking water temperature with sufficient accuracy and is suitable for an estimation of future development. The groundwater modelling, however, requires the consideration of a non-linear term depending on the depth to obtain reasonable results. Due to the usage of open-access data and the easy approaches developed and applied, a good transferability to other case studies is expected which can provide stakeholders a first assessment of the future need for action. HIGHLIGHTS Simple regression analyses are used for future projections for water resources.; Precipitation and temperature are utilised as input parameters.; Water demand increases by 25–125% due to climate change and population growth.; Increased availability of open-access data can help future planning.;

Keywords

• resource availability
• transferability
• water demand
• water quality
• water-rich countries
• water supply system