Water Resource Engineering

GIRH

The Water Resources Engineering Group has more than 30 years of R+D+I experience in topics related to Water Resources Engineering in general, and with emphasis on the Planning and management of watersheds integrating quantitative, qualitative, economic, environmental and social aspects, and in the design, construction, exploitation and safety of hydraulic infrastructures.

As a consequence, the group is a reference in research and development of methods and tools for the analysis of the management of water resources systems, and is the author of the software AQUATOOL, which has been used as a tool to aid decision in the development of plans at both national and international levels. The lines of research tackle diverse approaches and objectives within the common framework of the engineering of water resources systems, evolving over time in order to adapt to the needs of this discipline.

Due to this activity, different methodologies for the modelling and analysis of water resources systems under a multidisciplinary and integral approach have been developed, covering aspects related to: water resource assessment through precipitation-runoff modelling (EVALHID and PATRICAL modules), simulation and optimisation of watershed management (SIMGES and OPTIGES), groundwater modelling (AQUIVAL), water quality modelling (GESCAL), habitat estimation (CAUDECO) and consideration of economic aspects in water management (ECOGES). Most of these modules are integrated in the same platform (AQUATOOL) that serves as Decision Support System for the planning and management of water resources systems.

In addition to the extensive experience in the analysis of the management of water resources systems, other main lines of research of the Group deal with aspects of design, construction and exploitation of hydraulic infrastructures, with special attention to the study of dam safety informed in risk and to the analysis of flood risk in urban areas, as well as to the development of methodologies for evaluating the efficiency of risk reduction measures. It is worth mentioning the creation of a technology-based company called iPresas (Spin-off UPV) by researchers of the Group in 2011.

All these programs have proved to be very useful, since they are used by companies, water agencies and other universities for the development of studies such as hydrological plans, infrastructure design, estimation of the environmental state of the watershed, drought plans, etc. In fact, AQUATOOL has been a reference tool in Spain for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive which establishes the guidelines for the development of hydrological plans at the European level, and has been used for real world planning applications in foreign countries as Algeria, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Bosnia, Uruguay, El Salvador, and Cyprus. Aquatool is also being used by several research institutions for research and studies in Italy, China, México, Brazil, Cuba, Peru, Colombia, and Morocco.

The group is also very active in water economics, including the development of methods and tools for hydro-economic models with applications as diverse as: water-energy-soil-climate nexus, watershed management, groundwater management and joint use, water markets, impacts and adaptation to climate change, water economics, and water saving and conservation in urban and irrigated areas. The Group has participated in the development of hydro-economic models in different water resources systems in Europe (several watersheds in Spain, France, Italy), America (eg. California, Rio Grande watershed), and Asia (eg. Tigris-Euphrates watershed).

The lines of research developed are channeled through specific research projects financed by different entities, both public and private, and collaboration agreements with companies. The success achieved in the implementation of the methodologies and programs, as well as the practical usefulness of the results obtained make the transfer of technology, either to administrations or consulting companies, a key objective for the personnel of this Group. As a complement to this research work, the Group carries out system modelling work directly, as well as advisory work to different users of the program, mainly institutions, administrations and companies related to the world of water.

web

Research lines of GIRH