Climate change and drinking water production in The Netherlands: a flexible approach

Climate change increases water system dynamics through temperature changes, changes in precipitation patterns, evaporation, water quality and water storage in ice packs. Water system dependent economical stakeholders, such as drinking water companies in The Netherlands, have to cope with consequence...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water science and technology 2005-01, Vol.51 (5), p.37-44
Main Authors: Ramaker, T A B, Meuleman, A F M, Bernhardi, L, Cirkel, G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Conservation of Natural Resources
Depreciation
Drinking water
Dynamics
Environment
Evaporation
Greenhouse Effect
Groundwater
Intrusion
Netherlands
Redesign
River systems
Rivers
Saline water
Saline water intrusion
Sodium Chloride
Solutions
System dynamics
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Water - chemistry
Water Microbiology
Water quality
Water shortages
Water storage
Water Supply
Water supply systems
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Summary:Climate change increases water system dynamics through temperature changes, changes in precipitation patterns, evaporation, water quality and water storage in ice packs. Water system dependent economical stakeholders, such as drinking water companies in The Netherlands, have to cope with consequences of climate change, e.g. floods and water shortages in river systems, upconing brackish ground water, salt water intrusion, increasing peak demands and microbiological activity. In the past decades, however, both water systems and drinking water production have become more and more inflexible; water systems have been heavily regulated and the drinking water supply has grown into an inflexible, but cheap and reliable, system. Flexibility and adaptivity are solutions to overcome climate change related consequences. Flexible adaptive strategies for drinking water production comprise new sources for drinking water production, application of storage concepts in the short term, and a redesign of large centralised systems, including flexible treatment plants, in the long term. Transition to flexible concepts will take decades because investment depreciation periods of assets are long. This implies that long-term strategies within an indicated time path have to be developed. These strategies must be based on thorough knowledge of current assets to seize opportunities for change.
ISSN:0273-1223
1996-9732
DOI:10.2166/wst.2005.0104