SEMIDE/EMWIS: PAWA (Pilot Arno Water Accounts)

The general objective of the project is to improve knowledge on water resources available and their use in the Arno River basin (Italy) in order to assess the potential impact of management, technological and economical measures aiming at reducing the vulnerability of the territory against desertification, water scarcity and drought.

This project is part of an EU wide action in the framework of the Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s Waters. It is intended to share with the European water community the possibility of obtaining detailed water accounts for all European territory (sub-basin level with monthly time range) that can contribute to a better knowledge on the European river basins status and to optimized water saving measures.

Specific objectives are:

•      to prepare physical water accounts following the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts for Water (SEEA-Water) from the United-Nations using the best available data coming from field measurements or resulting from models when necessary. These water accounts with a monthly resolution for several past years in order to identify trends. The project is developed on 2 sub-basins and one aquifer. The quality of each dataset is assessed using a simple scorecard based on the estimated accuracy of the data source;

•      to prepare visualization products (e.g. graphs and maps) based on the water accounts for decision making and concertation with local stakeholders in the basin, according to international standards applied to spatial data infrastructures;

•      to use water accounts to assess the potential impact of combining various measures related to water resources efficiency in the most vulnerable sub-basins and test their acceptability during a workshop with stakeholders. to prepare water efficiency targets for potential future integration into Arno River Basin Management Plan;

•      to disseminate the project results and share experiences with other basin organisations and water authorities in Italy as well as in the Euromed area.