Review Of Model-Based Tools With Regard To The Interaction Of Water Management And Agriculture

This guidance report focuses on over fifty available tools that have a wider application, have been developed and applied in the context of EU-funded projects, or that present specific aspects of interest to support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The review clarifies the policy context of European water management and agriculture, paying particular attention to the recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its interaction with the WFD. In order to categorise and summarise the various models and tools related to water management and agriculture, a framework based on four critical dimensions (spatial scale, irrigation measures, agricultural measures and economic analysis) is adopted.The tools are categorised into three classes, namely agronomic tools, hydrology and water quality tools and economic and land use tools. Further information is provided, referring interested readers to a dedicated web portal that offers comprehensive, European-wide shared information. Moreover, this report also aims to give an insight into the ways in which transparency in decision-making is improved by models and tools, how they support current water managers' tasks and methods to compare different management options in terms of their ecological, economic and social impact. To this end, three examples of good application are presented. Finally, the review considers how models and tools should be used to support the implementation process of the WFD, particularly considering its demands on public participation.