Integrated Water Resources Management in a Lake System: A Case Study in Central Italy

Abstract

Lake Trasimeno is a closed lake in Central Italy and in historically its water level has been affected by wide fluctuations mostly depending on the climate. The lake has suffered many water crises due to water scarcity and in recent decades, droughts have also severely affected the economic and environmental situation. The aim of this study was to analyze the possibility of limiting these severe level fluctuations by evaluating of feasible water resource management policies that could also reduce the environmental stress of this area. Therefore, a specific decision support system (DSS) has been developed in order to simulate different scenarios for the entire water system of the Trasimeno area. In particular, the hydrological model implemented in the DSS allowed for the simulation and validation of different management policy hypotheses for the water resource in order to mitigate environmental and water crises for the Lake Trasimeno. Results indicated that it is possible to transfer a certain amount of water from nearby reservoirs without affecting the availability of the resource for specific users. In this way, Lake Trasimeno can benefit both from an increase in water levels in the lake, so a possible better situation in quantitatively and qualitatively.

Effects of Climate Change on Lake Thermal Structure and Biotic Response in Northern Wilderness Lakes

“…Indirect effects of climate are mediated through the watershed, for example by changes in the transfer of energy to the lake by shading or by inputs of mass from the watershed (nutrients, DOC, and mineral matter, both particulate and dissolved). In many lake-rich regions, human activities in the lake or watershed may mask changes driven by climate [62][63][64]. We focused on changes in wilderness lakes where direct human impact is minimal and watershed disturbances are primarily limited to natural forces.…”

Sustainability of Water Withdrawals in the Tiber River Basin (Central Italy)

“…For example, Salewicz amd Nakayama [6] presented Web-based decision support systems developed for a large international river, where the main goal is the conflict resolution in water resource management. The management of multipurpose water use issue between different stakeholders can be approached by means of decision support systems, for example in a system of reservoirs [7][8][9], or for managing surface water combined with groundwater [10]. In the field of decision support the 2000/60/EC Directive [35], for example: to guarantee sustainable water usage by individuals and businesses and to analyze the features of each river basin, including the impact of human activity.…”

A Stakeholder Oriented Modelling Framework for the Early Detection of Shortage in Water Supply Systems

“…To cope with drought and scarcity from a management perspective, it is possible to adopt support tools, such as AQUATOOL [35], MODSIM [36][37][38], WEAP [39], RIBASIM [40], WARGI-SIM [41] or SimBaT-DSS [42], or a set of interacting models such as the Netherland Hydrological Instrument NHI [43], which basically computes the transient water budget of integrated WSSs. A comparison of generic simulation models for water resource systems can be found in [44].…”