Therefore, this session welcomes studies on co-creation approaches in hydrology and water resources management. More specifically, we welcome studies including, but not limited to: experiences and case studies of participatory and co-creation approaches applied to hydrology and water resources management; co-modelling approaches and socio-hydrological studies involving participation of stakeholders; meta-analyses, review of other experiences, and literature reviews; critical geography, political ecology, new conceptual frameworks, and other critical approaches to co-creation and stakeholders involvement in water resources decision making.
Co-organized by the Working Group on Co-Creation of Water Knowledge of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences: https://iahs.info/Initiatives/Scientific-Decades/helping-working-groups/co-creating-water-knowledge/
Climate change, land degradation, and increasing water demand are intensifying pressure on water resources in data-scarce regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, where conventional monitoring systems are limited by cost, technical capacity, and sparse observational networks. This presentation provides evidence from multiple citizen science initiatives since 2010 demonstrating how participatory data collection and co-creation of local knowledge can enhance inclusive water resources management and climate adaptation.
Drawing on case studies from Ethiopia and Ghana, we show how high school students, farmers, and local communities were trained to collect groundwater levels, soil moisture, rainfall, streamflow, and water quality data using low-cost instruments such as plastic gauges, manual staff meters and weirs, and manual sampling kits. These datasets complement validation of earth observation products (e.g., soil moisture products), groundwater recharge estimates in sloping aquifers, and hydrological models, enabling improved understanding of seasonal water availability, groundwater surface water interactions, and watershed management. In Ghana’s Ahafo Ano watershed, citizen-generated observations supported inclusive landscape management planning and prioritizing post-mined land for reclamation, while in Ethiopia, citizen monitoring informed understanding of runoff mechanisms, erosion control, watershed restoration, and adaptive land management practices.
The results highlight that citizen science not only fills critical data gaps but also strengthens local capacity, trust in science, co-creation of local knowledge, and ownership of adaptation decisions. However, challenges remain related to data reliability, sustained engagement, and integration into formal decision-making processes. We argue that combining citizen science (CS) with existing community challenges, adapting new technologies for CS, implementing simple quality-control protocols, and integrating CS into government structures and budgets can unlock knowledge and enhance sustainability, scientific credibility, and policy relevance.
How to cite: Tilahun, S., Steenhuis, T., Adusei-Gyamfi, J., and Buytaert, W.: Citizen science as a catalyst for inclusive water and climate adaptation in data-scarce African landscapes, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17716, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17716, 2026.
Across Africa, water systems are undergoing rapid transformation in response to climate variability, land-use changes, and increasing demand. Yet, water management decisions remain constrained by limited in-situ data. While advances in digital innovation offer substantial potential to address water data scarcity, weak institutional capacity limits the use of such innovations by African water institutions. This work presents insights from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)’s Digital Innovations for Water-Secure Africa (DIWASA) initiative, which adopts a community use-case-based co-creation approach to translate Earth Observation (EO) data into actionable digital water solutions that are locally relevant and institutionally embedded.
Guided by principles of co-creating water knowledge, teams of practitioner communities in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia identified priority water challenges and co-developed context-specific use cases grounded in local decision contexts. Through inclusive, iterative engagement with 50 African organisations, diverse knowledge systems were integrated with Earth observation data from Digital Earth Africa (DEA) to generate legitimate and actionable water solutions. To sustain the application, targeted capacity-building training was provided for the participants, who have now been utilising these skills for over a year. In Ghana, Burkina Faso, Zambia, and Ethiopia. We document the co-creation of ten priority community use cases, including (i) satellite-based (i) soil moisture estimation to support irrigation scheduling at the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme in Ghana; (ii) coastal erosion monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of sea-defence interventions along Ghana’s eastern coastline; (iii) flood damage assessment to enable rapid humanitarian response in flood-prone rural areas of Burkina Faso; (iv) assessment of agricultural drought in Chongwe District of Zambia; (v) crop yield monitoring in Chibombo District of Zambia; and (vi) soil salinity monitoring in a large-scale irrigation scheme in Ethiopia.
IWMI’s role through DIWASA was primarily facilitative, providing technical backstopping, convening spaces, and capacity development, while ownership remained with national institutions and early-career professionals. Validation was undertaken through field engagement and multi-stakeholder workshops involving public water authorities, meteorological agencies, research institutions, the private sector, and local users. Results demonstrate that co-created Earth observation (EO) workflows can effectively address critical information gaps across multiple domains, including soil moisture dynamics, shoreline change, flood extent and impacts, rainfall-driven agricultural drought dynamics, field-scale maize yield performance, and soil salinity monitoring. Importantly, these workflows also contribute to strengthening institutional capacity, enhancing data literacy, and improving cross-agency coordination for evidence-based decision-making.
We argue that the value of EO for water security lies not only in technical performance but in how knowledge is transferred and transitioned from learning to action, and co-created, governed, and integrated into decision-making systems. The DIWASA experience demonstrates scalable pathways for advancing EO-based water services through community-driven innovation and sustained capacity building in Africa.
How to cite: Makungwe, M., Tilahun, S. A., Haile, A. T., Boamah, E., Mubea, M., and Seid, A.: Co-creating Digital Water Solutions: Transitioning from training to Community-Driven Earth Observation Use Cases in Data-Scarce Africa, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-7279, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-7279, 2026.
Transdisciplinary water research is widely promoted as essential for addressing climate adaptation challenges, yet many projects fall short of intended goals or impact, despite strong commitment to collaboration. This presentation examines how the structure and design of research projects shape whether co-creation succeeds or fails, drawing on applied projects across Arizona, the Sonoran Desert, and Baja California spanning the United States and Mexico focused on arid, coastal, and marine systems, including surface water and groundwater, and their implications for rural water availability and climate adaptation. Beyond commonly cited co-creation challenges such as timelines and funding constraints, these efforts reveal less-discussed barriers related to rural–urban differences, cross-border and international coordination, mismatched governance scales, and uneven capacity to engage with scientific and technical processes. Rather than proposing a universal framework, we use these experiences to surface broader patterns that recur across transdisciplinary water research, emphasizing where communication structures, design, and governance choices most strongly influence the translation of knowledge into practice. We share strategies that researchers can adopt to strengthen co-creation and improve the translation of climate-relevant water research with diverse partners (e.g., elected officials, local community members, resource managers) for adaptive decision-making.
How to cite: Hall, C. and Gupta, N.: From Promise to Practice: Supporting Transboundary Co-Creation in Water Action Science Across Borders, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21103, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21103, 2026.
Participatory research and community engagement increasingly play a vital role in strengthening relationships between academia and local communities, helping to ensure research questions are highly relevant and meaningful. To this end, we have progressively developed a Flood Hazards Engineering and Adaptation course at George Mason University in which student groups are paired with Virginia stakeholders to identify and address local flooding concerns. This course is part of both the larger Virginia Climate Center and a Seed Translational Research Project involving professionals from varied disciplines including scientists, engineers, and communicators.
Over 100 students have participated in this course since its inception in 2023. Through the course, students learn to develop flood models for their local stakeholders and assess mitigation strategies to minimize flooding in their project areas. These projects are defined by preliminary stakeholder discovery interviews (including iterative follow-up interviews, to which students are invited) to ensure our models fit stakeholder needs. Our stakeholders are very diverse and have included municipalities, counties, planning district commissions, and indigenous tribes across Virginia with varied socioeconomic statuses. Each project is unique and demands different modeling solutions, providing unique experiences for each student group as well as high-value outputs to meet each stakeholder’s needs.
In this presentation we explain in detail the development of the course as an example for future implementations of similar work, while additionally exploring the following questions: 1. How did we initiate engagement with stakeholders?, 2. How did we identify a minimum viable product for the course?, 3. What lessons have we learned through this process?, and 4. What do we wish we had done differently? We aim for this to serve as a valuable prototype and inspiration for similar stakeholder-driven coursework.
How to cite: Veronez, D., Ruess, P., de Lima, A. D. S., Cardona, D., Khalid, Z., Mullen, A., Ferreira, C., Nichols, L., Fox, A., and Kinter, J.: Student Coursework as Collaborative Science: Development of a Flood Modeling Course to Educate Future Engineers and Support Local Stakeholders, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-23129, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-23129, 2026.
Given the increasing water scarcity in northern and central Chile, characterized by declining rainfall, rising temperatures, and growing water demand, it is crucial to explore alternative sources that can supplement traditional water supply systems. One such source is fog water, which is available along an extensive stretch of the Chilean coast. Fog collectors allow for passive harvesting of this resource.
Chile has been a pioneer in researching and developing fog water harvesting technologies, and has several notable experiences in this area. However, despite its technical and environmental potential, fog water harvesting is a relatively unknown technology that has scarcely been studied from a social perspective. Significant gaps in knowledge exist regarding how communities perceive this water source.
This project advances the understanding of fog water as a complementary source in drought-stressed territories by examining social perceptions and local experiences in the Atacama Desert. The project presents illustrative cases and preliminary findings that highlight factors such as local memory, trust in the technology, and the perceived value of fog water. By focusing on social and subjective dimensions, the study addresses a significant knowledge gap and provides preliminary insights into the interplay between water, technology, and territory under conditions of climate stress.
How to cite: Carter, V.: Co-Creating Water Futures: Perceptions of Fog Harvesting in the Atacama Desert, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-97, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-97, 2026.
Wetlands are internationally recognised for their ecological, cultural, and economic significance, providing critical ecosystem services such as biodiversity conservation, water quality improvement, and flood regulation. However, wetlands often face compounding challenges from climate change and historical river regulation, creating complex and uncertain futures that demand innovative adaptation strategies. Anticipating and responding to these challenges is particularly difficult given the interplay between hydrological alterations, ecological thresholds, and cultural values.
While models inform adaptation decisions, it is people who make them. Effective climate adaptation for wetlands hinges on matching assessment methods to problem complexity and co-producing solutions that integrate diverse knowledge systems. Despite substantial advances in modelling capabilities, critical gaps persist in translating outputs into actionable metrics for local management. Hydrological models often fail to capture complex, non-linear impacts, cumulative stressors, and higher-order system values such as connectivity and cultural-spiritual dimensions. Wetlands function as integrated socio-ecological systems, challenging the reductionist modelling approaches that decompose them into discrete components. Conversely, co-production of adaptation pathways required both local knowledge and evidence-based climate projections to provide a robust foundation for discussion and decision-making. Effective adaptation requires blending the best available science with local and Indigenous experiential knowledge, particularly for complex or chaotic impact pathways where historical analogues are absent.
This research addressed some of these challenges through co-creation and integrating human and hydroecological systems for climate adaptation planning. The study developed climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation roadmaps for three Ramsar-listed wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia: Riverland, Barmah Forest, and the Macquarie Marshes, through a multidisciplinary, participatory process involving over 160 local and regional land and water managers. The approach integrated hydroclimate projections with local knowledge and Indigenous cultural values, adapted from established climate risk frameworks for Australian Ramsar sites and World Heritage areas. Hydroclimate information was developed from the best available climate and hydrological model outputs, and included past and future temperatures, rainfall volumes and characteristics, river flows, and inundation dynamics, providing scientific evidence to underpin the co-development process. A list of core site values and features were co-produced with participants, and their vulnerability assessed using combined qualitative and quantitative analyses to explore ecological thresholds and climate responses. Using spatial and temporal climate analogues and hydrological projections, visions of a changed future site were articulated, and adaptation pathways were co-developed to guide management towards climate-ready objectives while acknowledging significant ecological transformation.
By complementing quantitative modelling with participatory processes, this methodology fills a critical gap in adaptation research for complex ecosystems in highly regulated catchments. It offers a replicable framework for developing climate-ready management strategies that respect ecological integrity and cultural values while navigating some of the sources of uncertainty.
How to cite: Doble, R., Sengupta, A., Dunlop, M., Melbourne-Thomas, J., Round, V., Hopkins, M., Pritchard, J., Brooks, S., Gibbs, M., and Doody, T.: Climate adaptation pathways for Ramsar wetlands: a co-creation approach integrating hydroclimate projections, ecological thresholds and local knowledge, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10480, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10480, 2026.
The incorporation of “soft data” from local community experts has long been recognised as a valuable source of information in scientific studies. However, in practice many quantitative scientists find it challenging to incorporate the resulting qualitative data into their studies. However, we present an example from South Australia, where the combination of Indigenous knowledge and historical maps was a key component. The study has aimed to locate freshwater resources along a long (180 km), thin (less than 2 km wide) barrier peninsula, determine their hydrological characteristics, and understand their resilience to climate change impacts. The peninsula contains a wealth of culturally important sites, including “soaks”, which are small, persistent wetlands that constitute the only source of fresh water in an environment with seawater on one side and a hypersaline, RAMSAR-listed estuarine lagoon on the other. These soaks also support the native wildlife that inhabits the regions. Thus, the project included considerable consultation and collaborative fieldwork with the Ngarrindjeri community to locate and sample soak hydrology. Dozens of soaks were identified through a combined approach of remote sensing and community knowledge, and have subsequently been sampled for salinity and stable isotopes to determine water sources. The results of the project are expected to underpin resource management of the region by both state government and Indigenous rangers.
How to cite: Shanafield, M. and Banks, E. (.: Walking together on Country: combining Indigenous knowledge and western science to understand freshwater resources in a hypersaline environment, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19263, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19263, 2026.
The Moorabool River is one of Victoria’s most important regional rivers. As well as providing drinking water for the expanding cities of Geelong and Ballarat, the river serves as a critical biodiversity corridor for endangered plant and animal species. It is also a popular waterway for recreational purposes and holds significance to its Wadawurrung Traditional Owners. The river’s importance was highlighted by the Victorian Government’s designation of the river as one of 19 “Flagship Waterways” prioritised for funded catchment management programs.
The high prioritisation accorded to the Moorabool River is further justified through its identification as one of Victoria’s most flow stressed rivers. Since settlement, the catchment and river have been significantly impacted by the construction of farm dams, weirs, diversions, land-use change, and water extraction for both urban and rural use. Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CCMA) is a statutory authority that oversees catchment management of the region, including integration of collaborative groundwork and research. The CCMA’s Regional Waterway Strategy (2014-2022) summarises the key Moorabool River threats as flow deprivation, river sedimentation, land-use change, population growth, and (projected) climate change.
In response to these challenges, in 2017 the Victorian Government initiated the “Living Moorabool Flagship” project managed by CCMA through a partnership approach with water authorities, Aboriginal Traditional Owners and the community. The overarching aims of the Living Moorabool Flagship are threefold: 1) to improve environmental flow releases for the river downstream of Lal-Lal Reservoir; 2) to improve riparian vegetation through incentives programs for landowners to fence off waterways, reduce weeds and re-establish native vegetation; 3) to empower the community through Citizen-Science monitoring programs.
The Moorabool Catchment is a case study of applied research employing a partnership approach to the delivery of on-ground works. This paper presents preliminary PhD results based on a project applied to the Living Moorabool Flagship program focusing on quantifying the impact of environmental flow releases on water quality and a hydrological model of the impact of farm dams on streamflow. Results indicate that integrating long-term water quality data from multiple agencies improves the analysis of water quality responses to environmental flow releases, supporting their evaluation as an intervention strategy. Hydrological modelling showed that farm dams significantly reduce streamflow, increasing low-flow periods in the system. Together, these findings highlight the value of co-creating evidence-based knowledge that contributes to the decision framework for integrated catchment management.
How to cite: Gutierrez Ramos, P. and Harrison, A.: Co-creating Knowledge for Catchment Sustainability: Applying research in the Moorabool Catchment for more effective on-ground change, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20570, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20570, 2026.
Hydrological interventions in hard rock, agriculture dominated landscapes often produce highly variable outcomes that are difficult to explain using conventional project bound thumb rule based monitoring and evaluation approaches. This study presents a co created, community led continuous monitoring framework implemented in a semi arid watershed in Telangana, India, aimed at generating process level hydrological evidence while strengthening local learning and adaptive water resources management. The monitoring system was jointly designed by researchers, implementing agencies, and trained Community Resource Persons, repositioning monitoring from a retrospective accountability exercise to an ongoing, field embedded learning process.
The framework integrates simple instruments such as rain gauges and staff gauges with selective use of sensors including pressure transducers, hand held soil moisture sensors, and flow meters to track rainfall, surface storage, groundwater recharge, soil moisture dynamics, and irrigation water use across supply side, soil moisture, and demand side interventions. Continuous time series data reveal how hydrological responses vary with landscape position, rainfall intensity, and moisture conditions, patterns that are typically obscured in one time surveys or endline evaluations. For example, monitoring of farm ponds and borewell recharge structures highlights contrasting recharge behaviours across ridge, mid slope, and valley settings, while plot scale soil moisture measurements demonstrate how agronomic practices like mulching influence infiltration and moisture persistence over time.
Beyond data generation, the co creation process actively involves Community Resource Persons and farmers in data interpretation through regular reflection and sense making sessions. This participatory analysis strengthens local understanding of hydrological processes, helps distinguish between storage, recharge, and demand management functions of interventions, and supports mid course corrections in design, siting, and complementary practices.
The study demonstrates that community led continuous monitoring can function simultaneously as a scientific method and a governance practice. When embedded within a co creation framework, it produces context specific hydrological evidence while fostering shared ownership of knowledge, offering a scalable pathway for adaptive water resources management in data scarce regions.
How to cite: N r, L. and Srinivasan, V.: Co creating hydrological knowledge through community led continuous monitoring in data scarce watersheds, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19804, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19804, 2026.
Digital Twins (DTs) offer dynamic, near-real-time representations of systems, enabling visualization of current and projected states and the testing of interventions. These emerging technologies have significant potential to transform environmental risk management practices. However, developing DTs for environmental management and disaster risk reduction presents substantial challenges. In Flood Risk Management (FRM), this complexity is amplified by the involvement of multiple professional stakeholders with diverse statutory responsibilities, priorities, and information needs. Currently, there is no formalized approach for DT design nor established methods for integrating end-user requirements. Development processes often remain top-down and technology-driven rather than participatory and user-focused.
This presentation reports one of the first attempts to embed user co-design in the development of an environmental DT. It draws on FLOODTWIN an interdisciplinary demonstrator project for FRM in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire (UK), a region characterized by compound and complex flood risk. Using qualitative data from participatory workshops and interviews, we examine the project’s co-creation process with professional FRM stakeholders. Our analysis maps emerging opportunities and challenges in DT development and interface design, viewed through an ethnographic lens. We explore stakeholder perspectives on technology adoption, the politics of data sharing, and the role of academic research in shaping future DT applications in FRM practice.
This research contributes a new evidence base to inform research on co-creating digital tools for multi-agency decision-making in FRM and broader environmental management. We propose a research planning framework to guide co-design processes in future DT projects. In doing so, we highlight how sub-optimal water risk management is socially constructed, revealing that it is not solely a technical problem but one embedded in institutional, cultural, and political contexts.
How to cite: Coulthard, T., Underhill, H., and McEwan, L.: “That’s the dream, right?”: reflections on the co-design of an environmental digital twin by flood risk management professionals, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11570, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11570, 2026.
Co-creation is increasingly promoted within hydrological research as a way to address complex and contested water challenges, yet its meaning, scope, and implementation are necessarily highly variable in practice due to the specifics of local contexts and goals. Within the framework of the IAHS HELPING (Hydrology Engaging Local People IN one Global world) decade and as part of the Co-Creation of Water Knowledge working group (CCWK), we conducted a systematic review of co-creation in water-related research to examine how collaborative knowledge production is conceptualized, operationalized, and evaluated across the hydrological research lifecycle. We focus explicitly on co-creation processes that involve empowering or co-leading of societal engagement, excluding one-way consultation or extractive participation.
Following a structured multi-stage screening of 3,971 publications retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus, we identified and analysed 144 case studies that met stringent co-creation criteria. The review was guided by a qualitative screening framework developed within the CCWK working group and structured around four core elements of co-creation—relationship building, leadership, tools and techniques, and knowledge inclusion—together with four overarching principles: inclusivity, openness, legitimacy, and actionability (Castelli et al., 2025).
We observed a rapid increase in co-creation approaches in hydrology after 2013, concentrated in Europe and North America. Rivers, urban water systems, and watershed management were the most frequent focus of co-creation. Most processes were initiated by researchers, in contrast to community- or government-led initiatives. While collaborative and facilitative leadership was frequently reported, genuine redistribution of decision-making power was rare and/or poorly documented.
Recurring bundles of tools rather than single techniques were used for co-creation, most commonly workshops, interviews, participatory mapping, modelling, and scenario-based approaches. Scientific and governance knowledge overwhelmingly dominated, in contrast to Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems. Although most studies claim actionable outcomes, concrete evidence of implementation, long-term impact, or environmental change was uneven, and evaluation frameworks were scant.
Overall, our review shows that co-creation in water science is widely invoked but inconsistently defined, implemented, and assessed. We identify recurring structural barriers related to funding architectures, institutional constraints, power asymmetries, and short project timeframes. By synthesising empirical patterns across cases, this study clarifies where and how co-creation contributes meaningfully to addressing wicked water problems, and where its application risks becoming rhetorical rather than transformative. This review lays the work for our future work developing a vision for what co-creation of water knowledge should become in the next decade and how we can get there.
This work was performed as part of the IAHS HELPING Working Group on “Co-Creating Water Knowledge”: https://iahs.info/Initiatives/Scientific-Decades/helping-working-groups/co-creating-water-knowledge/
References:
Castelli, G., Howard, B. C., Adyel, T. M., AghaKouchak, A., Agramont, A., Aksoy, H., … Ceperley, N. (2025). Co-creating water knowledge: a community perspective. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 70(16), 2899–2919. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2025.2571065
How to cite: Merheb, M., Hall, C., Amanambu, A., Aslam, H., Hossain, S., Chun, K., Fradi, F., Choukrani, H., Ceperley, N., Cudennec, C., Castelli, G., Udayar PIllai, S., Panchanathan, A., Koren, G., Llsat, M. C., Howard, B., and Ouarani, M. and the CCWK WG Review paper team: What does co-creation of knowledge look like in water sciences? , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12326, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12326, 2026.
In 2020, the FLOODUP Francolí project was carried out to gather information about the flash flood event that affected the Francolí River (Catalonia, NE Spain) in October 2019. The ultimate goal was to involve the local population in improving resilience to sudden and catastrophic floods, which are relatively frequent in the area. To achieve this, a citizen science experiment was developed in collaboration with various local stakeholders, along with co-creation workshops. One of the campaign’s results was the reconstruction of the social response during the emergency. Its analysis highlighted the need to improve flood preparedness and response, leading to the continuation of the study through a new participatory process developed through the Flood2Now project.
This project also incorporated citizen science, with two main objectives: a real-time river level monitoring through citizen participation and raising awareness of risk perception through the reconstruction of collective memory. The project was carried out in two areas: the Francolí river basin and the Arga river basin in Villaba, Pamplona (N Spain). As part of the participatory activities, participants were invited to share their knowledge of flooding by taking part in co-creation and historical reconstruction workshops adapted to the specific characteristics of each community. Workshops were also held to select river level monitoring points jointly. Once these locations had been defined and validated by the project team’s hydrologists, observation posts were installed to facilitate monitoring. This communication will describe how co-creation process and activities were adapted to the specific characteristics of each territory and community and present the main results obtained. It will also show the differences in the river-community-territory relationships of each pilot and identify the barriers and opportunities for achieving the planned objectives.
How to cite: Llasat-Botija, M., Varela, O., Marcos, R., and Llasat, M.-C.: Citizen science and co-creation of knowledge to improve resilience to floods , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8060, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8060, 2026.
Sustainable water resource management increasingly relies on integrated modelling approaches that jointly address the evolution of hydrological processes, and the quantification of anthropogenic water uses. This contribution aims to illustrate the maturity of such an approach by combining hydrological modelling results with spatially explicit estimates of water withdrawals and consumption. The objective is to support territorial stakeholders by providing a coherent view of future water resource trajectories and associated allocation challenges.
The study is conducted over the Vienne River basin (~22,000 km²) through a partnership between three French actors with complementary expertise and an interest in the future of water resources:
- CEREMA, the French public agency leading expertises for adapting territories, has developed STRATEAU [1], which reconstructs monthly water-use volumes by sector (agriculture, industry, energy production and tertiary activities), and aims at contributing to the quantification of water withdrawals and consumption.
- EDF (leading electricity producer in Europe) contributes with the hydrological modelling at the basin scale, using its experience gained through its involvement in the French EXPLORE2 project [1] which addresses the impacts of climate change on hydrological regimes.
- Vienne EPTB (Vienne River Basin Public Authority) provides in-depth knowledge of the territory, supported by previous hydroclimatic studies conducted to inform regulatory approaches related to allocable water volumes.
The set-up of STRATEAU (definition and calibration of the underlying assumptions) relies on shared expert judgement among the partners, with a central role played by the EPTB in ensuring the consistency of scenarios with local hydrological and territorial realities. STRATEAU is then used to translate climate and societal evolution scenarios — consistent with national reference studies [2] — into projections of water withdrawals and consumption. These results are combined with hydrological projections derived from the EXPLORE2 framework, enabling an integrated analysis of the joint evolution of water availability and water uses.
The results highlight the benefits of the dialogue between scientific, industrial, and institutional stakeholders and the added value of combining heterogeneous modelling tools. Preliminary spatial analyses illustrated below (for the year 2020), show the distribution of available water volumes across the basin and the estimated total withdrawals for all sectors, while temporal analyses allow the exploration of the seasonal dynamics of ratio between resource availability and water use.
This work identifies several perspectives: the need for a more explicit representation of the sensitivity of hydrological simulations to water abstractions, depending on their origin (surface versus groundwater), and the desirable integration of water management measures, that influence availability of water at annual and basin scales.
Total estimated withdrawals (left) and average discharge (right) for 2020 summer period (jja) over the Vienne River watershed.
[1] Lecomte J., et al. STRATEAU – une approche novatrice et un outil innovant de gestion prospective des tensions sur l’eau, 2023, DOI : 10.54563/asgn.2359
[2] Tristan Jaouen et al. Will rivers become more intermittent in France? Learning from an extended set of hydrological projections. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2025
How to cite: Lamouroux, R., Beaufort, A., Debein, C., Dolidon, H., Neel, C., and Piccioni, F.: Combining hydrological and water-use models for watershed management: informing stakeholders on resource projections and strategic allocation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17078, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17078, 2026.
For Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, waterways are not merely physical resources, they are living systems with their own mauri (life force). These waterways sustain livelihoods, support cultural practices, linking people to their ancestors and to place. Because of the importance of waterways, Māori have been monitoring them for centuries, using traditional practices while also incorporating new monitoring technologies over time. This project investigates the potential of satellite-based remote sensing to complement and strengthen indigenous led waterway monitoring in the Ruapehu region, New Zealand.
The Ruapehu district is within the tribal lands of the Iwi (tribe) Ngāti Rangi. The lakes, rivers and springs of this area connect the people to their ancestral mountain, Mount Ruapehu. Ngāti Rangi practices cultural stewardship by monitoring changes in these waterways. Their current monitoring relies primarily on in situ observations. Combining satellite based remote sensing data with Ngāti Rangi’s existing in situ monitoring systems offers an opportunity to enhance understanding of waterway condition and change at more frequent time intervals at multiple sites across the region.
This research adopts a co-creation approach where discussion with Ngāti Rangi has guided the selection of significant waterbodies and monitoring parameters. Multi-spectral imagery from Landsat 8-9 and the Sentinel-2 satellites is used to derive data that tracks changes in water colour and related indicators of waterway condition. These satellite-derived datasets are processed and anaylsed against Ngāti Rangi’s existing in situ observations to evaluate how satellite-derived datasets may support existing environmental monitoring strategies.
This case study contributes to emerging socio-hydrological practice by demonstrating how remote sensing technologies can support Indigenous-led waterway monitoring. It highlights both the opportunities and challenges of integrating remote sensing technologies within existing Māori environmental management systems and offers transferable insights for co-created monitoring in other Māori environmental contexts.
How to cite: Ronald, I., Procter, J., Whitehead, M., Whaanga, H., and Gabrielsen, H.: Assessing Satellite Remote Sensing for Indigenous Waterway Monitoring, A Co-Created Case Study from the Ruapehu Region, New Zealand, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4563, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4563, 2026.
Implementing Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Taiwan’s steep, rapid-flow river environments faces a unique governance paradox where high-level policies encourage ecological restoration yet frontline engineering practices remain constrained by strict flood safety liabilities. This governance challenge is particularly pronounced in the Gangkou River watershed, a biologically rich region adjacent to the Kenting National Park at the southern tip of Taiwan. Notably, the demonstration site for this study was not unilaterally selected by the research team but was identified by local stakeholders advocating for restoration. The conflict between local demands for water recreation and flood safety versus rigid concrete check dam designs necessitates scientific mediation.
To echo the social inclusivity emphasized by NbS and promote its practical implementation in Taiwan, the key challenge lies not in the lack of hydraulic modeling tools but in the absence of a mechanism to translate qualitative Stakeholder Narratives into adaptive engineering language to assist in assessing the multiple benefits of NbS in disaster prevention and ecology. Therefore, this study proposes a Socio-Hydrological Framework integrating Participatory Modeling (PM).
Drawing on the bi-directional translation and iterative spirit of the Story-And-Simulation (SAS) approach, we attempt to establish an intuitive process for mapping qualitative needs to adaptive schemes and utilize two-dimensional hydraulic simulation as the quantitative calculation method. First, through Upward Translation, key needs proactively raised by locals (including biological, security, and cultural demands) are directly mapped and translated into model parameter settings for NbS adaptive planning scenarios. Next, through simulation calculations, Downward Translation converts physical data into visualized trade-off indicators (such as Habitat Suitability and Flood Risk maps) which are fed back to stakeholders for Social Iteration.
Through this systematic translation process, the study aims to establish a bottom-up, iterative decision-making pathway that supports community consensus-building and provides a scientific reference for advancing Nature-based Solutions in ecologically sensitive and high-conflict river environments in Taiwan.
This framework was applied to the Ba-Yao Bridge reach to evaluate three scenarios: Baseline, Ecological-oriented (Full Removal), and Integrated NbS (70% Height Reduction with Regraded Banks). Preliminary simulation results indicate that the Integrated NbS Scenario demonstrates typical advantages of nature-based solutions, generating significant hydraulic synergy: lowering the existing check dam height by approximately 70% increased flow velocity while effectively reducing local water levels. This hydraulic margin, facilitated by feasibility discussions with right-bank landowners regarding regraded banks, allowed for the design of vegetated slopes that enhance longitudinal connectivity without causing flood risks for adjacent farmlands to exceed safety thresholds. Furthermore, the design reduced flow disconnection time by nearly 80% during low-flow periods, effectively addressing stakeholder concerns regarding eutrophication, shallow water depths, and the desire to restore childhood memories of water accessibility.
Ultimately, this study preliminarily validates that the conflict between flood safety and ecological restoration often stems from rigid engineering constraints. By systematically translating social values into NbS design parameters and aligning with local policies like 'Sediment-Water Inundation Zones' and regraded embankments, we establish a bottom-up iterative decision-making process to provide a solid scientific foundation for promoting Nature-based Solutions in high-conflict, ecologically sensitive areas.
How to cite: Hsu, J.-C. and Liao, K.-W.: A Socio-Hydrological Framework for Nature-Based Stream Restoration: Integrating Engineering Safety and Social Narratives in Taiwan, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-9197, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9197, 2026.
This contribution reflects on the path to incorporating local knowledge and active participation to co-create river management and river-related risk mitigation strategies. These topics are explored through the double lenses of embedded scientists, both working on the Tagliamento and local community members with deep roots in the context of the river Tagliamento, in Italy.
As part of our scientific approach, we have examined how communities perceive the river in terms of river-related risks, but also as a living entity shaping the landscape and enhancing natural and ecosystemic values. A mixed-method approach was used including surveys, interviews, workshops, participatory mapping, as well as outreach events. Different levels of participation and collective discussions have helped shape the scientific work we have carried out. In particular, historical storylines of villages adapting to the river’s dynamics highlight past ecosystem-based strategies that can inform future planning considering multiple river-related risks and community input in planning. With this contribution we discuss the relevance of a range of co-design and co-creation initiatives, focusing on shared experiences that have focused on creating safe spaces to celebrate personal relationships with the river. We discuss the effectiveness of different workshops, lectures and field-based programs carried out over the last 5 years and directed towards different groups of students, from 9 to 12 years old children to high-school students, to adults. We share what we, and our students, have learned through these experiences.
Acknowledgements: Anna Scaini acknowledges support by Formas - the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development - grant 2022-00329.
How to cite: Scaini, A. and Scaini, C.: Learning from the river: integrating community knowledge and participatory methods to co-create river management strategies, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19570, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19570, 2026.
Water-related and environmental challenges increasingly emerge from complex human–natural systems, where hydrological processes, ecosystem functioning and human decision-making are deeply interconnected through non-linear feedbacks and cross-scale dynamics. In such systems, scientific knowledge alone is often insufficient to fully capture system behaviour, as local practices, institutional arrangements and decision processes actively shape both pressures and responses. Strengthening hydrological and environmental research through the integration of stakeholder and decision-makers’ knowledge is therefore essential to enhance system understanding, decision relevance and the effectiveness of management strategies.
This contribution discusses the role of participatory modelling as a co-creation pathway for water and environmental resources management, drawing on multiple research experiences and applications developed across diverse eco-socio-hydrological contexts. Rather than focusing on isolated sectors (siloed approach), the proposed perspective embraces an integrated view of environmental systems, where water dynamics are analysed together with ecosystems, governance structures and human behaviour, allowing insights to be transferable across contexts.
System Dynamics (SD) modelling is proposed as a particularly suitable approach for representing and managing human–natural complexity. SD modelling enables the explicit representation of feedback mechanisms, delays and non-linear responses, and supports the exploration of alternative system trajectories through the simulation of management and policy intervention scenarios. Within participatory settings, SD modelling provides a shared analytical space in which scientific evidence and experiential stakeholder knowledge can be jointly organised and discussed.
The modelling process is articulated through a qualitative phase, in which participatory Causal Loop Diagrams support the collective construction of system understanding and its possible evolution, and a quantitative phase, where these representations are formalised into simulation models to explore system behaviour, trade-offs and unintended consequences over time. Stakeholder knowledge is integrated throughout both phases, contributing to problem framing, identification of relevant variables and feedbacks, equation development and interpretation of model outputs.
Beyond knowledge integration, co-creation is understood as a process that actively shapes system dynamics through actors’ behaviours, strategies and interactions. In complex human-natural systems, decisions made by farmers, utilities, policy-makers and other stakeholders are not external drivers, but endogenous components that influence feedback structures, system trajectories and long-term outcomes. By explicitly embedding decision-making processes, behavioural heterogeneity and adaptive responses within participatory models, co-creation allows these dynamics to be explored, discussed and negotiated. In this sense, participatory modelling becomes both an analytical and a transformative process: it supports collective learning about system behaviour, reveals potential policy resistance and unintended consequences, and creates the conditions for adaptive management strategies that are not only technically robust but also socially legitimate and implementable.
How to cite: Pagano, A., Coletta, V. R., Selicato, L., and Giordano, R.: Participatory modelling as a co-creation pathway for human-natural systems management, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22369, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22369, 2026.
Accurate estimation of runoff potential is essential for watershed planning, flood assessment, and sustainable land and water management. Although the Curve Number (CN) method is widely used for surface runoff estimation, most existing studies still depend on static LULC–soil matrices or empirical CN values that overlook spatial heterogeneity and hydrological variability at the watershed scale. This introduces a methodological gap in deriving dynamically representative CN estimates that capture actual catchment responses. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was employed to generate spatially explicit CN values across a diverse set of Hydrologic Response Units (HRUs) by integrating land use/land cover, soil hydrological groups, and slope classes. The analysis was conducted for the Ong watershed, an important tributary of the Mahanadi River basin in eastern central India, covering an area of 4,650 km². The model-simulated CN values were subsequently utilized to delineate runoff-potential zones within the watershed. Calibration and validation of SWAT-simulated runoff against observed streamflow strengthened the reliability of surface runoff parameterization. The spatial assessment revealed distinct patterns of low, moderate, and high runoff potential, predominantly governed by variations in LULC and soil texture. Built-up and agricultural areas exhibited higher CN values, while forested and permeable zones consistently showed lower runoff potential. Overall, the results demonstrate that SWAT-based CN derivation overcomes the limitations of conventional CN assignment by producing hydrologically consistent and spatially distributed runoff-potential maps. This systematic and scalable framework can support improved conservation planning, watershed prioritization, and climate-stress resilience assessments.
Keywords: Hydrological modeling; Curve Number; Hydrological Responses Unit; Runoff potential; Watershed management
How to cite: Prashant, P., Mishra, S. K., and Lohani, A. K.: SWAT-Based Estimation of Curve Numbers for Runoff-Potential Zoning, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1038, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1038, 2026.
The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Working Group on the ‘History of Hydrology’ (https://iahs.info/Initiatives/Working-Groups/History-of-Hydrology/) was established under the leadership of Keith Beven in December 2022. In 2025, Okke Batelaan succeeded Keith Beven as chair. Before the establishment, several scientific activities demonstrated broad interest in the history of hydrology, thereby underscoring the opportunity and need for this Working Group (Beven et al. 2025). In 2018-2019, well-attended EGU sessions on the ‘History of Hydrology’ were organised. In 2019, a special issue on the ‘History of Hydrology’ in the ‘Hydrology and Earth System Sciences’ resulted in 13 published papers.
The aims of the Working Group are:
1: To provide a central repository for information on the History of Hydrology with liaison, links and metadata on the existing initiatives and copies or links to important historical papers from multiple countries.
2: To encourage more international contributions from countries that are not currently well represented in the existing resources, including the identification of important historical papers from those countries.
3: To encourage the recording of the contributions of female hydrologists.
4: To encourage the recording of the histories of experimental catchments where important advances in understanding of hydrological processes have been made.
5: To encourage the recording of the histories of hydrological models and the people who worked with them.
6: To provide a mechanism for the recording of the history of projects representing good practice in sustainable hydrology for societies under change, building on the Case Studies in Panta Rhei.
Since its establishment, the Working Group has been active in further sessions on the History of Hydrology at the IAHS-IUGG General Assembly, Berlin, in 2023, at EGU in 2025-2026, while a special workshop ‘From the History of Hydrology to the Future of Education’ was organised at Eawag, Switzerland, in 2025. A new Special Collection on ‘History of Hydrology’ in the Hydrological Sciences Journal has been very successful with so far 22 papers. Since 2018, more than 20 ‘History of Hydrology Interviews’ have been recorded with hydrologists (https://www.youtube.com/@historyofhydrologyintervie846). In these interviews, hydrologists share their personal stories about their careers, inspirations, successes, failures, collaborations, friendships, influences, and thoughts about the future. These recordings are inspirational for all, especially students, early-career researchers, and senior researchers. The often personal and historical accounts of scientific directions and developments, which are rarely found in journal papers, are a valuable source of information for hydrological education. The ‘History of Hydrology Wiki’ (http://www.history-of-hydrology.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page) is another high-value educational resource, as it provides biographies of hydrologists, histories of experimental and research catchments, histories of institutions, hydrological textbooks, and an annotated bibliography.
Alltogether, the Working Group on the ‘History of Hydrology’ provides a gold mine of information that can be infused into hydrological teaching and education and inspire the next generation of hydrologists.
Beven et al., 2025, On the value of a history of hydrology and the establishment of a History of Hydrology Working Group. Hydrological Sciences Journal 70(5):717-729. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2025.2452357.
How to cite: Batelaan, O. and Beven, K.: The IAHS Working Group on the History of Hydrology and the future of education, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17327, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17327, 2026.
