Suchergebnisse

Relevant information is essential for finding solutions in Integrated Water Management (IWM). Complex water systems and a need for increasing integration of sectors, actors and scales in IWM require new methods for developing and managing such information. This thesis investigates the role of information within the IWM process, as well as the main challenges for development of representative, accessibleand harmonized information. Results show how information needs and the information production process for IWM may be systematized, and indicate a large potential for information system development for IWM. However, in order to reach the full potential, today's limited and heterogeneous water information needs to become more comprehensive, transparent, interoperable, dynamic, scalable and openly accessible. Large pressures on water systems are found in coastal catchment areas that are unmonitored across the local to the global scale, indicating a large importance of these areas for nutrient and pollutant loading. The globally accessible runoff data from catchment areas that are rich in pressures from population, agriculture and general economic activity further exhibit a rapidly declining trend during recent years. Major water system changes may therefore pass unnoticed if analyzed on the basis of openly accessible runoff global data. Furthermore, large discrepancies are found between land cover databases, which may result in major uncertainties in quantification of water and evapotranspiration flows. Identified information challenges may be relatively easily overcome by making better use of available information, while other challenges such as development of consistent baselines of core data and a possible re-prioritization of water-environmental monitoring programs may be both difficult and costly.

AbstractWater information systems (WIS) are being developed for countries, international river basins and the European Union (EU), partly as a result of the requirements specified in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The issue of whether and how these information systems should be integrated into the European Commission's water information system for Europe (WISE) is currently an open one. We present a discussion with regard to the challenges facing WISE development, with particular focus on the heterogeneity of spatial base data. In addition, an assessment of this heterogeneity is presented based on Swedish and English WFD reporting data, and on WISE‐relevant small‐scale European base datasets. Results show that WFD reporting data are based on incomparable methods and spatial analysis units, and that small‐scale data are transborder heterogeneous. Interpretation and international comparison of WFD results as well as their combination into a common WISE may therefore be largely constrained by spatial data heterogeneity.