The Water Program (2013 - 2020)

The IIASA Water Program works across various water-related sectors and management scales. It studies a range of possible future socioeconomic changes and technological innovations.

The program seeks to incorporate water science into assessment and planning studies at the nexus of water, food, energy, and environmental security. Its aim is to establish a critical mass of water knowledge through development of new modeling tools and data collection.

Objectives

• To compile, consolidate, and enhance knowledge of global water supply and demand balances
• To incorporate hydrology and hydrologic uncertainty into integrated assessment modeling efforts and scenario development
• To provide a sound scientific basis for responding to current and future global water challenges by assessing the robustness and complementarity of portfolios of potential solutions.

Latest water Events & News

22 Mar 2021

IIASA and World Water Day 2021

World Water Day held annually on 22 March, celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living withou... More

10 December 2019

Could we cool the Earth with an ice-free Arctic?

The Arctic region is heating up faster than any other place on Earth, and as more and more sea ice is lost every year, we are already feeling the impacts. IIASA researchers explored strategies for cooling down the oceans in a world without this important cooling mechanism.  More

09 December 2019

Highlighting the importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers

Mountains and highlands are often referred to as natural “water towers” because they provide lowland communities with essential freshwater for drinking, irrigation, industry, food, and energy production. A new Nature study provides insight into this valuable resource, which is crucial to the welfare of 1.9 billion people.  More

19 November 2019

IIASA researchers among top 1% of most highly cited scientists

Several IIASA researchers from the Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases Program, the Energy Program, the Ecosystems Services and Management Program, and the Water Program, have been recognized again for their outstanding contribution to scientific literature.  More

Water Program Projects

ISIPEDIA

Project to develop online portal for national-level, cross-sectoral climate-impact assessments, based on state-of-the-art climate-impacts simulations from ISIMIP More

Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (ISWEL)

A ground-breaking study into sustainable solutions to jointly meet water, energy and land demands at the global level, and also zooming into two large transboundary basins facing multiple development and environmental challenges: The Zambezi and the Indus. More

Water Futures and Solutions

The Water Futures and Solutions Initiative is a ground-breaking study into sustainable solutions to meet local, national, and global water challenges. It is looking for additional partners from the development, business, and scientific community. More

More projects

Water models, Tools and data

Community Water Model (CWatM)

An open source model to examine how future water demand will evolve in response to socioeconomic change and how water availability will change in response to climate. More

Global Hydro-economic Model (ECHO)

A new tool to inform the design of cost-effective and sustainable water policy decisions. More

Recent Events

22 Mar 2020

IIASA and World Water Day 2020

World Water Day held annually on 22 March, celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living withou... More

26 Jan 2020 - 27 Jan 2020

IIASA at the G20 pre-meeting Towards a G20 Action Plan on Water

IIASA Water Program Director Yoshihide Wada has been invited as a key speaker at the First G20 Agricultural Deputies mee... More

07 Apr 2019 - 12 Apr 2019

IIASA at EGU 2019

IIASA researchers and staff will participate in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2019, presenting n... More

22 Mar 2019

IIASA and World Water Day 2019

World Water Day is held annually on 22 March and is about taking actions to tackle global water challenges. IIASA is inv... More

Water research at IIASA

IIASA research programs have continually been active in water science since the Institute's inception in 1972. IIASA played a prominent role in various recent large integrated water projects: WATCH (Water and Global Change); SCENES (Scenarios for Europe and Neighbouring States).

Last edited: 23 June 2021