title: Key issues for determining the exploitable water resources in a Mediterranean river basin.
abstract: One of the major difficulties in water planning is to determine the water availability in a water resource system in order to distribute water sustainably. In this paper, we analyze the key issues for determining the exploitable water resources as an indicator of water availability in a Mediterranean river basin. Historically, these territories are characterized by heavily regulated water resources and the extensive use of unconventional resources (desalination and wastewater reuse); hence, emulating the hydrological cycle is not enough. This analysis considers the Jucar River Basin as a case study. We have analyzed the different possible combinations between the streamflow time series, the length of the simulation period and the reliability criteria. As expected, the results show a wide dispersion, proving the great influence of the reliability criteria used for the quantification and localization of the exploitable water resources in the system. Therefore, it is considered risky to provide a single value to represent the water availability in the Jucar water resource system. In this sense, it is necessary that policymakers and stakeholders make a decision about the methodology used to determine the exploitable water resources in a river basin.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera S/N, 46022 Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: mapedmon@upv.es.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pedro-Monzonís
authors.affiliation: Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (CHJ), Júcar River Basin Authority, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 48, 46010 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferrer
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera S/N, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Abel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Solera
authors.affiliation: Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (CHJ), Júcar River Basin Authority, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 48, 46010 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Teodoro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Estrela
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera S/N, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paredes-Arquiola
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D013030:Spain; D062066:Water Resources / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Exploitable water resource; Jucar River Basin; Water accounts; Water availability; Water resource systems