A co-generation success story: Improving drinking water management through hydro-climate services

Abstract

Hydro-climate services have been emerging to address the needs in the drinking water supply sector. Here, we demonstrate how co-generation can lead to the uptake of a service for supporting decision-making and ensuring a sustainable use of water resources. Insights are based on the storyline of the SMHI Aqua service co-generation. A framework consisting on four pillars (co-design, co-development, co-delivery and co-evaluation) was implemented based on the active involvement and close collaboration of service purveyors, data providers and users. The service consists of three main components: data assimilation, forecast production and a decision support system. Two hydrological models were locally customized to simulate freshwater availability in surface and groundwater reservoirs, generating further short- and long-range forecasts updated twice a day. Real-time hydro-meteorological measurements are used to update the model and initialize the forecasts, while different water extraction strategies allow simulating freshwater availability scenarios for the upcoming months. The hydro-meteorological measured and modelled data are accessible in a web-based platform and presented in a user-intuitive and informative way. We conclude that knowledge co-evolution is crucial for ensuring a hydro-climate service uptake. For water managers to take informed decisions, the hydro-meteorological information (including propagated uncertainty) generated by the service needs to be efficiently communicated. We finally note that the benefits resulting from the adoption of the hydro-climate service go beyond water-related users reaching to the general public by guaranteeing access to freshwater and by improving awareness and preparedness to extreme conditions.