Modelling the mutual interactions between hydrology, society and water supply systems

Abstract

ABSTRACT We developed a simple conceptual socio-hydrological model to explore the mutual interactions between water management systems and society. We examined the feedback among climate, population, wealth and water availability and capital investment. Given the focus on the interplay among these multiple variables, some simple schemes were designated in order to simulate rainfall inputs, surface and aquifer hydrology and to mimic economic and social mechanisms. The proposed model is applied to synthetic cases in order to explore the dynamics of the water demand, water availability and water deficit that in turn influence the capital invested in water infrastructures. The results show how societal wealth, the number of people living in a given area and the local climate can determine societal efforts in exploiting water resources, the frequency of water deficits and the amount of money invested overall in infrastructures.