Abstract
A modeling system was developed to evaluate the sustainability of water resources management strategies in the two major basins of Thessaly Region in Greece, namely the Pinios River and the Lake Karla basins. The intense and extensive agriculture of water demanding crops, such as cotton, and the absence of reasonable water resources management have lead to a remarkable water demand increase, which is usually fulfilled by the over-exploitation of groundwater resources. This unsustainable practice has deteriorated the already disturbed water balance and accelerated water resources degradation. The modeling system consists of a hydrological model, a reservoir operation model and methods for the estimation of water demands. The study area was sub-divided into sub-basins and water balance analyses were performed for each sub-basin and each control node of the system for a number of water resources management strategies. Four strategies of hydro-technical project development were coupled with two strategies of groundwater withdrawal and three water demand strategies. In total, more than 24 water management strategies were evaluated. The results showed that, under the existing water resources management, the water deficit of the Pinios River and Lake Karla basins is very large. However, the development of proposed hydro-technical projects in the Pinios River basin coupled with water demand management measures, like improvement of existing water distribution systems, change of irrigation methods, and changes of crop cultivation could alleviate the problem and lead to sustainable and ecological use of water resources in the study area.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen RG, Pereira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) Crop evapotranspiration – guidelines for computing crop water requirements, FAO irrigation and drainage paper no. 56, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Araujo de JC, Doll P, Guntner A, Krol M, Abreu CGR, Hauschild M, Mendiondo EM (2004) Water scarcity under scenarios for global climate change and regional development in semiarid Northeastern Brasil. Water Int 29(2):209–220
Araus JL (2004) The problems of sustainable water use in the Mediterranean and research requirements for agriculture. Ann Appl Biol 144:259–272
Biswas AK (2004) Integrated water resources management: a reassessment. Water Int 29(2):248–256
Blaney HF, Criddle WD (1950) Determining water requirements in irrigated areas from climatological and irrigated data, SCS-TP96. US Soil Conservation Service, Washington DC
Chen Y, Zhang D, Sun Y, Liu X, Wang N, Savenije HHG (2005) Water demand management: a case study of the Heihe River Basin in China. Phys Chem Earth 30:408–419
Christodoulaki S, Loukas A, Vasiliades L, Dalezios NR (2003) Water balance modeling using digital GIS data. In Dalezios NR, Dobesch H (eds) GIS and remote sensing: environmental applications. Volos, Greece, 249–260
Christodoulaki S, Loukas A, Vasiliades L, Dalezios NR (2004) Analysis of water balances and demands in Heraklio Watersheds, Crete. In Moutzouris C, Christodoulatos C, Dermatas D, Koutsospyros AD, Skanavis C, Stamou A (eds) Protection and Restoration of the Environment VII, Mykonos Island, Greece
Dastane NG (1974) Effective rainfall, FAO irrigation and drainage paper no. 25, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Doll P, Hauschild M (2002) Model-based regional assessment of water use – an example for semi-arid Northeastern Brasil. Water Int 27(3):310–320
Efstratiadis A, Koutsogiannis D, Koukouvinos A (2002) Evaluation of the possibilities of water quality management and protection of Lake N. Plastiras-Hydrological Study. National Technical University of Athens, Athens (in Greek)
Embid A (2003) The transfer from the Ebro Basin to the Mediterranean basins as a decision of the 2001 National Hydrological Plan: the main problems posed. Int J Water Resour Dev 19(3):399–411
EYDE, ENVECO (1995) Integrated environmental impact assessment study, Greek Ministry of Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works, Athens (in Greek)
Global Water Partnership (2000) Integrated water resources management, TAC background papers, no. 4, GWP Secretariat, Stockholm
Greek Ministry of Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works (1999) Lake Karla’s restoration: environmental – Technical Report, Cost-Benefit Study and Support Studies, Greek Ministry of Environment Regional Planning and Public Works, Athens (in Greek)
Hamoda MF (2004) Water strategies and potential of water reuse in the south Mediterranean countries. Desalination 165:31–41
Hughes DA (2005) Hydrological issues associated with the determination of environmental water requirements of ephemeral rivers. River Res Applic 21:899–908
Hughes DA, Hannart P (2003) A desktop model used to provide an initial estimate of the ecological instream flow requirements of rivers in South Africa. J Hydrol 270:167–181
Jeong CS, Heo JH, Bae DH, Georgakakos GP (2005) Utility of high-resolution climate model simulations for water resources prediction over Korean Peninsula: a sensitivity study. Hydrol Sci J 50(1):139–153
Karamouz M, Kerachian R, Zahraie B (2004) Monthly water resources and irrigation planning: case study of conjuctive use of surface and groundwater resources. J Irrig Drain Eng 130(5):391–401
Kampragou E (2006) Integrated water resources management. Application of balanced score card to Nestos basin, PhD thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Kazeli H, Keravnou E, Christofides TC (2003) An intelligent hybrid decision support system for the management of water resources. Intern J Patt Recogn Art Intel 17(5):837–862
Knight CG, Chang H, Staneva PM, Kostov D (2001) A simplified basin model for simulating runoff: the Struma River GIS. Profess Geogr 53(4):533–545
Koch H, Kaltofen M, Grunewald U, Messner F, Karkuschke M, Zwirner O, Schramm M (2005) Scenarios of water resources management in the Lower Lusatian mining district, Germany. Ecol Eng 24:49–57
Lanini S, Courtois N, Giraud F, Petit V, Rinaudo JD (2004) Socio-hydrosystem modelling for integrated water-resources management – the Herault catchment case study, Southern France. Environ Model Softw 19:1011–1019
Levite H, Sally H, Cour J (2003) Testing water demand management scenarios in a water-stressed basin in South Africa: application of the WEAP model. Phys Chem Earth 28:779–786
Loukas A, Mylopoulos N (2004) Effects of hydrotechnical works development and water resources management on the availability of water resources of Pinios river basin. In Moutzouris C, Christodoulatos C, Dermatas D, Koutsospyros AD, Skanavis C, Stamou A (eds) Protection and restoration of the environment VII. Mykonos Island, Greece
Loukas A, Mylopoulos N, Moustaka E (2003a) A GIS based water resources management procedure for the restored lake Karla. In Dalezios NR, Dobesch H (eds) GIS and remote sensing: environmental applications, Volos, Greece, 221–230
Loukas A, Vasiliades L, Mpastrogiannis N (2003b) Hydrologic simulation of surface water balance in Yermasoyia watershed, Cyprus. In Sidiropoulos E, Iacovides I (eds) Research of water resources in Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, 83–114 (in Greek)
Loukas A, Mylopoulos N, Vasiliades L, Tarnanas H, Polykretis J, Dimitriou A (2005a) Sustainable water resources management in Pinios River and Lake Karla basins, Thessaly, 6th E.W.R.A. International Conference “Sharing a common vision for our water resources”, Menton, France
Loukas A, Vasiliades L, Domenikiotis C, Dalezios NR (2005b) Basin-wide actual evapotranspiration estimation using NOAA/AVHRR satellite data. Phys Chem Earth 30:69–79
Loukas A, Vasiliades L, Lachanas G (2006) Climate change impacts on the components of hydrological cycle in Thessaly. In Gidarakos E, Nikolaidis N, Christodoulatos C (eds) Protection and restoration of the environment VIII, Chania, Greece
Manios T, Tsanis IK (2006) Evaluating water resources availability and wastewater reuse importance in the water resources management of small Mediterranean municipal districts. Resour Cons Recycl 47:245–259
Markantonatos GP (1990) Treatment and disposal of waste water, G.P. Markantonatos, Athens (in Greek)
Mylopoulos N, Mentes A, Karamanlidou M (2001) Sustainable water resources management in the wider hydrological basin of Volos. In Brebbia CA, Anagnostopoulos P, Katsifarakis KL, Cheng AH-D (eds) Water resources management, progress in water resources 4, WIT, Southampton
Mylopoulos YA, Mentes AK, Theodossiou I (2004) Modeling residential water demand using household data: a cubic approach. Water Int 29(1):105–113
Nash JE, Sutcliffe JV (1970) River flow forecasting through conceptual models. Part 1. A discussion of principles. J Hydrol 10(3):282–290
Pallotino S, Sechi GM, Zuddas P (2005) A DSS for water resources management under uncertainty by scenario analysis. Environ Model Softw 20:1031–1042
Papazafiriou ZG (1999) Water demands of crops. Ziti, Thessaloniki (in Greek)
Poff NL, Ward JV (1989) Implications of streamflow variability and predictability for lotic community structure: a regional analysis of streamflow patterns. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 46:1805–1818
Richter BD, Baumgartner JV, Wiginton R, Braun DP (1997) How much water does a river need? Freshw Biol 37:231–249
Sanz DB, Del Jalon DG (2005) Characterisation of streamflow regimes in central Spain, based on relevant hydrobiological parameters. J Hydrol 310:266–279
Semadeni-Davies A (1997) Monthly snowmelt modelling for large-scale climate change studies using the degree day approach. Ecol Model 101:303–323
Sevruk (1982) Methods of correction for systematic error in point precipitation measurements for operational use, Operational Hydrology Report (WMO no. 21), Geneva, Switzerland
Smakhtin VU (2001) Low flow hydrology: a review. J Hydrol 240:147–186
Thornthwaite CW (1948) An approach toward a radiation classification of climate. Geogr Rev 38(1):55–94
Tsagarakis KP, Dialynas GE, Angelakis AN (2004) Water resources management in Crete (Greece) including water recycling and reuse and proposed quality criteria. Agric Water Manag 66:35–47
Tsakiris G (1995) Water resources: engineering hydrology. Symmetry, Athens (in Greek)
US Soil Conservation Service (1972) National engineering handbook, Section 4, Hydrology, Washington DC
Vandewiele GL, Win NL (1998) Monthly water balance for 55 basins in 10 countries. Hydrol Sci J 43(5):687–699
Varis O, Kajander T, Lemmela R (2004) Climate and water: from climate models to water resources management and vice versa. Climatic Change 66(3):321–344
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (1986) Intercomparison of models of snowmelt runoff, Operational Hydrology no. 23 (WMO no. 646), Geneva, Switzerland
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (1994) Guide to hydrological practices: data acquisition and processing, analysis, forecasting and other applications, WMO no. 168, Geneva, Switzerland
Yurdusev MA, O’Connell PE (2005) Environmentally-sensitive water resources planning. Water Resour Manag 19:375–397
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Loukas, A., Mylopoulos, N. & Vasiliades, L. A Modeling System for the Evaluation of Water Resources Management Strategies in Thessaly, Greece. Water Resour Manage 21, 1673–1702 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-9120-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-9120-5