Abstract
A key challenge in the sustainable management of freshwater is related to non-stationary processes and transboundary requirements. The assessment of freshwater is often hampered due to small-scale analyses, lacking data and with the focus on only its provision. Based on the ecosystem service (ES) concept, this study aims at quantitatively comparing potential water supply with the demand for freshwater in the European Alps and their surrounding lowlands. We propose an easy-to-use combination of different mapping approaches, including a large-scale hydrologic model to estimate water supply and the downscaling of regional data to the local scale to map demand. Our results demonstrate spatial mismatches between supply and demand and a high dependency of the densely populated lowlands from water providing mountain areas. Under expected climate variations and future demographic changes, our results suggest increasing pressures on freshwater in the south of the Alps. Hence, sustainable water management strategies need to assure the supply of freshwater under changing environmental conditions to meet the increasing water demand of urbanized areas in the lowlands. Moreover, national water management strategies need to be optimally concerted at the international level, as transboundary policies and frameworks can strengthen future water provision.
Highlights
In many parts of the world, mountains play an indispensable role in providing water for households, irrigation, hydropower production and other uses [1,2,3,4]
Based on the ecosystem service (ES) concept, this study aims at quantitatively comparing potential water supply with the demand for freshwater in the European Alps and their surrounding lowlands
About 68% of all water supply within the Alpine Space area came from municipalities within the European Alps
Summary
In many parts of the world, mountains play an indispensable role in providing water for households, irrigation, hydropower production and other uses [1,2,3,4]. As assessments of ES are increasingly inferred or modelled from both key ecosystem properties such as vegetation, topography and climatic variables [13] and socio-economic information such as population and land use, this concept recognises the multi-functionality of ecosystems and provides information on social and economic aspects, which are highly important for complex decisions in water management [8]. This holistic approach is especially important in the light of global change, affecting high-elevated mountain regions and their freshwater resources more seriously than lowlands [14]. To guarantee their sustainable use as well as to protect relevant ecosystem properties such as the capacity to regulate and store water, a systematic approach combining geographical (catchments) and institutional borders is needed for the Alpine region
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