On the 7th of December was presented the status report of the Assessment Study on Present and Future Water Availability and Application of the WEI+ scarcity index, a partnership between academia and national experts.

Among its main effects is an increase in global average temperature and in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events, such as floods and droughts.

APA carries out competencies in managing water resources and fighting climate change, through planning, licensing, monitoring and implementing measures that can both promote a proper state of water bodies and adapt to climate emergency. To accomplish this mission requires developing studies that allow us to know what water we have, the water we already use and the water we will have in the future.

The study, which will bring together leading specialists on the subject, aims to:

• determine, with the best available information, quantifications of current and future water availabilities, under natural and modified regimes, in wet, medium and dry year;
• to determine water use, consumption and needs, as this is an essential requirement for proper current and future management with regard to both surface and underground water resources;
• determine the WEI+ scarcity index by sub-basin;
• assessing an evolution of water availability in face of climate change scenarios to define a methodological approach that ensures a necessary coherence of outcomes between various planning instruments and management methods of water resources.

 Watch the session on APA's YouTube channel.

Source: Portuguese Environment Agency