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Abstract
Water management has evolved in the last
years towards more integrated and participatory
approaches, aiming at improving the adaptability of
water systems. Following this line, we propose a
methodology to build a decision support system, based
on the participation of stakeholders and the integration
of the different disciplines involved in water use, as well
as the inclusion of uncertainties in the management
planning. The process has been implemented in the
Upper Guadiana basin (Spain) with the aim of solving
the existing conflicts: the aquifer, which is the main
water source in the area, has been over-exploited during
the last decades for irrigation. This has lead to serious
degradation of natural water-related ecosystems and
important social conflicts.
The river basin authority has tried to implement
different policies to attain the aquifer recovery, so far
without much success. At present, a new management
plan specifically for the Upper Guadiana has been
approved, where some policy measures are proposed for
attaining the reduction of agricultural water
consumption. The methodology proposed in this work is
based on the combination of a Bayesian network and an
economic mathematical programming model, elaborated
with the active participation of stakeholders. The
resulting DSS will be used to evaluate different
management options, within those included in the
Special Plan of the Upper Guadiana, in terms of their
impacts on the agricultural income and the
environmental sustainability. Results show that new
measures would not be successful unless they are
accompanied by an increase of compliance of farmers
with water regulations.