Project 20

Current results of climate models project a future augmentation of dry spells as well as an increased number of heavy rainfall events in northeast Germany.

The changing weather extremes of the last years underline the problems of the existing water resources management practice to fulfil the requirements of the land users and the needs of environmental protection during such situations.

An adjustment of the water resources management practice to these changing meteorological and hydrological conditions can help to reduce the impact of climate change and to improve the situation of the wetlands in northeast Germany.

Therefore an analysis of the complex impacts of adaptation options is required as well as testing their integration in existing water management systems. Within subproject 20 different adaptation options regarding groundwater settings are analysed by means of a modern lysimeter station in the Spreewald wetland.

For improving the practical water resources management, including the control of the regulation structures, a prototype of a decision support system will be developed and tested in an area in the southern part of the Spreewald.