Research Project

In watDEMAND, the water demand in the household, industry and agriculture sectors is forecast, spatially resolved for Germany up to the year 2100 and intersected with changes in the water supply. This makes it possible to identify so-called hot spot regions in which there could be increased water shortages in the future. The research project aims to illustrate the opportunities and risks that global climatic and demographic-technological change could pose for water supply in Germany.

In the sub-project "Agriculture", spatially explicit modelling of field crops is used to forecast irrigation demand against the background of climate change. For this purpose, new approaches in model calibration are being developed in order to determine the effects of drought stress in an ensemble approach consisting of several crop models and climate projections.

The background to the research project is the dry and hot summers of 2018 to 2020, which have shown that the German water supply can already reach regional-temporal bottlenecks. Climate change projections show that such climatic conditions could intensify in the near and distant future. The DVGW research programme "Future Water" is therefore investigating how water supply and demand could develop in the future on the basis of two interlinked research projects.

Prof. Dr. Tobias Weber

Prof. Dr. Thilo Streck (Universität Hohenheim)

12.2021 - 06.2023

Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches e.V. (German Association of the Gas and Water industry)

• IWW – Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für
  Wasserforschung gGmbH
  Dr. Tim aus der Beek (Projektleiter)
  Moritzstr. 26
  45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr

• TZW: DVGW-Technologiezentrum Wasser
  Dipl.-Geoökol. Sebastian Sturm
  Abteilung Wasserversorgung, Sachgebiet Risikomanagement
  Karlsruher Straße 84
  76139 Karlsruhe

Dr. rer. nat. Tobias KD Weber (until November 2022)

Fasil Mequanint Rettie (November 2022 to June 2023)