6. Workshop Alpine Hydrologie

Alpine regions are increasingly impacted by climate change and human activities, with cascading effects on water availability and demand. South Tyrol (Italy) has already experienced recurring drought events and is actively developing adaptation strategies to cope with emerging water-related risks. In this context, Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy) is strengthening and integrating its activities on water across multiple research domains. 

This contribution provides an overview of ongoing interdisciplinary work at Eurac addressing key challenges in water management. Existing research groups are converging to combine expertise in climatology, hydrology, Earth Observation, risk assessments, land use and land cover mapping, and socio-economic analysis, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of complex water systems that cannot be addressed within single disciplines. 

Several projects focus on advancing hydrological modelling and water resources assessment at local and regional scales (e.g., HAST, HydroClim-Up).  At the alpine scale, Eurac leads the Interreg Alpine Space project A-DROP A-DROP, which develops innovative drought monitoring and forecasting tools, and applies stakeholder engagement strategies through a network of pilot areas, while delivering indicators to support drought risk assessment across the entire alpine region. 

At South Tyrol regional scale, Eurac leads the NextWater_ST project expanding on existing knowledge to assess current and future water demand across multiple sectors, including agriculture, energy, domestic and touristic uses. Activities are evaluating how competing demands may evolve under climate change and potentially lead to tensions and conflicts (together with the Conflicts project). In parallel, Eurac is contributing to the systematic collection and analysis through Natural Language Processing methods of past and ongoing drought impact records across sectors and regions (DryAlps-IT), addressing critical data gaps that limit risk assessments and adaptation planning. 

By integrating natural and social science approaches, process understanding, obsethese activities aim to support decision-making and foster more resilient and adaptive water management strategies in alpine regions.