World Water day - Anticipation and adaptation: tackling climate change with OiEau

In a context of climate upheaval, with intense droughts, water shortages, large-scale fires, rising sea levels, floods and violent storms, and the decline of biodiversity, it is crucial to have precise knowledge of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of water resources.

Having always made sure to place cutting-edge technologies at the heart of its activities, from 2014, OiEau led the SWOT (Surface Water Ocean Topography) working group, the leading multidisciplinary forum for discussion on spatial hydrology in France, made up of French research, institutional, technical and operational stakeholders (CNES, IRD, AFD, IRSTEA, BRLi, CNR, CLS).

Years of collective work have thus made it possible to launch the SWOT satellite in December 2022. Since then, it has been providing altimetry data on almost all of the Earth's fresh water with centimetre accuracy, complementing field surveys, particularly in areas that are difficult to access.

Launched in December 2024 by OiEau via INBO, for which it provides the Permanent Technical Secretariat, together with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and more than 20 research institutions, the One Water Vision Coalition is an ambitious international initiative. It aims to exploit innovative satellite technologies to provide concrete solutions for water resource management, water-related risks, early warning systems, agriculture under water stress and planning. It will focus on real-time observation, reliable data and implementation approaches, adapted to different climatic and geographical contexts.

In France, with the support of the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB), OiEau administers the Sandre (French National Service for Water Data and Common Repositories Management), which brings together organisations involved in the creation and administration of water data benchmarks. OiEau is responsible for developing technical solutions for data exchange and interoperability with the information systems of the French government and European states.

OiEau, a recognised stakeholder in the international water community, is involved in several projects funded by the European Union.

The GOVAQUA project identifies, evaluates, develops and validates innovative governance approaches to support and accelerate the transition to sustainable and equitable water use in Europe.

InnWater aims to promote social innovation to renew multi-level and cross-sectoral water governance. It responds to the need to find sustainable solutions for arbitrating water uses, through 5 European pilot sites, taking into account the realities on the ground of the actors faced with the challenges of climate change.

Establishing hydro-climatic projections has become essential for the local adaptation of water management to climate change.

OiEau is coordinating the LIFE Eau&Climat project, which aims to support local decision-making for climate-adapted water management. The aim is to help those involved in the local management of water resources, particularly within the framework of the Water Development and Management Schemes (SAGEs), to assess the effects of climate change, to take them into account in their planning and to implement adaptation measures.

At the end of the project, OiEau finalised a collection of projects dedicated to the themes of water and climate change. With 30 summary sheets, it constitutes a reference tool for water management stakeholders, offering direct access to research information and operational experiences on the impacts of climate change in France, Europe and internationally.

The LIFE Eau&Climat project also focused on improving access to hydro-climatic data. In this context, Météo-France designed the DRIAS-Eau portal, which offers a set of hydrological data on future climate, based on the various IPCC scenarios, and allows the evolution of water resources to be visualised in the form of maps, as close as possible to the territories, in the short, medium and long term.

At the level of water and sanitation services, OiEau has developed Prospereau, a financial analysis and forecasting tool to help medium-sized French local authorities plan their investments and optimise their financial management, taking climate issues into account. This innovative tool stands out for its accessibility and its general interest.

In the face of increased risks of flooding and drought, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are relevant and sustainable responses based on ecological principles. It is about ‘Working with nature rather than against it’. In the field of water, NBS can be applied in a wide range of ways: alternative management of storm water, new agricultural practices that limit runoff and promote infiltration, sustainable urban planning that is responsible and ‘permeable’, etc.

Support and Cooperation, OiEau's long-standing expertise, enables the Association to support several European projects under the Horizon Europe programme, the European Union's framework programme for research and innovation.

Together with Natalie, the aim is to test 18 NBS measures in different biogeographical regions of Europe across 10 countries, in terms of technical aspects, stakeholder engagement, modelling, testing, monitoring and validation mechanisms. The objective is to help regions and municipalities to plan for and develop adaptation measures.

Among the NBSs, soils, as natural water reservoirs, have a crucial role to play, provided that their retention and filtration capacity, which has been greatly degraded by human practices (intensive agriculture, land artificialisation, excessive drainage of wetlands, etc.), is restored. Restoring their ‘sponge’ function involves planting hedges, restoring wetlands, developing infiltration basins, etc.

OiEau is a partner in two parallel projects designed to test this ‘sponge’ capacity: SpongeScapes is intended to acquire scientific knowledge, while SpongeWorks aims to demonstrate the large-scale effectiveness of such developments and encourage their adoption throughout Europe.

Faced with the threat of restrictions on access to water during droughts, and in accordance with the French Government's Water Plan of March 2023, industrialists aim to reduce their water use, in particular by developing the reuse of treated wastewater.

For more than 30 years, OiEau has been supporting businesses, in particular, in the development of their environmental practices, for example with the ZEUS project, which aims to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of a solution for the total recycling of water and dissolved compounds, on the site of a French syrup manufacturing plant.

At the European level, OiEau is coordinating the work of 16 partners in the AWARD project, to support the integration of the use of non-conventional water resources (rainwater, reuse of treated wastewater) into strategic water supply planning.

Because climate change knows no borders, it is important to involve all stakeholders, especially in the case of a shared catchment area. INBO has a collection of handbooks combining feature articles and case studies, presenting concrete experiences and know-how from countries and basins around the world.

Two titles are specifically devoted to adaptation:

• Financing adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins,
• Water and adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins.

Training to adapt to climate change is not only a question of understanding the issues, but also a question of action: indeed, concrete measures must be taken to provide sustainable solutions to a global problem.

This applies to

• sustainable water management (efficient irrigation and water saving techniques, such as reducing network leaks),
• the design of resilient cities (with alternative rainwater management),
• ecological restoration (with Nature-Based Solutions),
• support for companies to adjust their strategies and practices (reuse of treated wastewater, use of non-conventional water),
• the definition and implementation of public policies to meet the challenges of climate change.

Thanks to its facilities, which are unique in Europe, and its team of 35 permanent expert instructors, OiEau is able to support a whole range of partners in improving the skills of their teams.

‘The water sector is a sector with a future because there are organisational and structural developments in the water and sanitation services, due to regulatory changes, the investments needed to renew the infrastructure, and the in-depth treatments that need to be put in place to deal with the new types of pollutants that are appearing.

All of this results in a very high demand for personnel in these services and, consequently, a significant need for training.’

Joseph PRONOST, Director of Training & Educational Engineering - OiEau

Sharing good practices helps to accelerate the ecological transition. Whether it concerns local initiatives or major international policies, each piece of feedback is valuable for adjusting and improving strategies to combat global warming.

Whether at forums and international conferences, through cooperation between countries or cities, local experiences and citizen initiatives, within the framework of professional networks or collaborative scientific projects, OiEau is present to provide, in complete independence, innovative solutions in the service of the general interest and sustainability.

Thanks to its four complementary areas of expertise – Training and Education, Institutional and Technical Support & Cooperation, Data & Information Systems, and Stakeholder Network Facilitation – OiEau is able to lead and implement a wide range of projects, such as those presented in this article.

OiEau supports its clients and partners in responding to the strategic, operational, legal and technical challenges associated with water management, from the most local to the transboundary level, thus providing tailored support to a wide variety of stakeholders, whether public or private.

Through its integrated and multidisciplinary approach, OiEau is positioned as a key partner for addressing a wide range of topics.