13.3.2 A Hierarchy as Regards Water Uses in Case of Water
Scarcity that Favours Water Supplies
The three cross-cutting chapters clearly show that the impact of drought on water
supplies is generally taken into account than the two other issues: agriculture and
nature. In all of the cases studied, the priority is given to human water uses when
the resource becomes scarce, even if we witness a growing sensibility, which tends
to question this hierarchy especially in the Netherlands. In all the regions, freshwater availability for drinking water provision is usually ranked as a priority stake.
Moreover, the regional analysis pointed out that disruption in freshwater
delivery is considered as a management mistake. That explains the difficulty to
question the hierarchy already settled in favour of freshwater supply.
Last, it is worth noting that the impact of drought is not only a quantitative issue.
For freshwater supply it is mostly a qualitative one. As stated above, during drought
episodes, water quality in lakes and reservoirs generally shows deterioration due to
less dilution, particularly for nutrients and salinity which oblige to increase water
treatment for drinking water production. This is why in some regions the main
focus is given to be better prepared for crisis management.
13.3.3 Contrasting Initiatives Which Try to Better Take
into Account Drought in All Sectors
While our first two observations are somewhat pessimistic that are also numerous
initiatives that have been pointed out in the six regional case study chapters which
cannot all be reported here. We can stress here the main trends along four main
lines:
• Awareness: even if awareness proved to be low in each region, gradually the
agricultural sector becomes more sensitive to drought risk as a result of past
events. Moreover, it has been stressed in some cases that the fundamental nature
of drinking water provision and freshwater availability may be the leading
entryway to the development of drought risk awareness and drought adaptation
measures.
• Knowledge: a better knowledge about agricultural and individual water uses is
recognized in all the regions as a necessity, and new tools are implemented in
order to strengthen this knowledge capacity. To that respect, the developed web
platform (www.water.be) with the modelling results in Flanders can increase the
awareness for the problem, if it is used as an information channel, e.g. by
farmers. Increased communication of risk to actors which have underdeveloped
risk perception is then recommended. For these activities the developed scientific model can be used, but the more technical approach should be combined
252
C. Larrue et al.
Scarcity that Favours Water Supplies
The three cross-cutting chapters clearly show that the impact of drought on water
supplies is generally taken into account than the two other issues: agriculture and
nature. In all of the cases studied, the priority is given to human water uses when
the resource becomes scarce, even if we witness a growing sensibility, which tends
to question this hierarchy especially in the Netherlands. In all the regions, freshwater availability for drinking water provision is usually ranked as a priority stake.
Moreover, the regional analysis pointed out that disruption in freshwater
delivery is considered as a management mistake. That explains the difficulty to
question the hierarchy already settled in favour of freshwater supply.
Last, it is worth noting that the impact of drought is not only a quantitative issue.
For freshwater supply it is mostly a qualitative one. As stated above, during drought
episodes, water quality in lakes and reservoirs generally shows deterioration due to
less dilution, particularly for nutrients and salinity which oblige to increase water
treatment for drinking water production. This is why in some regions the main
focus is given to be better prepared for crisis management.
13.3.3 Contrasting Initiatives Which Try to Better Take
into Account Drought in All Sectors
While our first two observations are somewhat pessimistic that are also numerous
initiatives that have been pointed out in the six regional case study chapters which
cannot all be reported here. We can stress here the main trends along four main
lines:
• Awareness: even if awareness proved to be low in each region, gradually the
agricultural sector becomes more sensitive to drought risk as a result of past
events. Moreover, it has been stressed in some cases that the fundamental nature
of drinking water provision and freshwater availability may be the leading
entryway to the development of drought risk awareness and drought adaptation
measures.
• Knowledge: a better knowledge about agricultural and individual water uses is
recognized in all the regions as a necessity, and new tools are implemented in
order to strengthen this knowledge capacity. To that respect, the developed web
platform (www.water.be) with the modelling results in Flanders can increase the
awareness for the problem, if it is used as an information channel, e.g. by
farmers. Increased communication of risk to actors which have underdeveloped
risk perception is then recommended. For these activities the developed scientific model can be used, but the more technical approach should be combined
252
C. Larrue et al.