Purnamasari et al. (2026) Impacts of Incorporating Anthropogenic Water Use in a High‐Resolution Spatially Distributed Hydrological Model on Simulated Basin‐Scale Discharges

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-01
• Authors: Willem J. van Verseveld, Joost Buitink, Frederiek Sperna Weiland, Brendan Dalmijn, Adriaan J. Teuling, Albrecht Weerts
• DOI: 10.1029/2025wr041581

Research Groups

• Hydrology Department, University of Amsterdam
• Water Management Institute, Delft University of Technology

Short Summary

This study evaluates the impact of explicitly accounting for anthropogenic water use on simulated hydrological processes in the Rhine basin at a resolution of ∼1 km. The results show that including abstraction and return flows improves discharge performance only slightly and is spatially heterogeneous.

Objective

• Investigate how explicitly accounting for anthropogenic water use affects the accuracy of discharge simulation in the Rhine basin

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: ∼1 km resolution
• Temporal Scale: 1990–2020

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not specified
• Data sources:
  • Daily discharge observations from 116 gauging stations
  • Sub-national statistics for total water abstraction
  • Satellite and observation data (not specified)

Main Results

• Simulated total water abstraction shows stronger agreement with reported sub-national statistics at coarser spatial scales but deteriorates at finer scales due to downscaling uncertainties.
• Including anthropogenic water use yields a small median improvement in discharge performance by reducing high-flow overestimation through increased storage capacity.
• Small-to-moderate rivers respond more strongly to water demand inputs, particularly during summer low-flow periods.

Contributions

This study provides insights into the conditions under which explicitly accounting for anthropogenic water use improves the accuracy of discharge simulation. The results highlight the need for advances in return flow process representation, demand allocation, and water use observations.

Funding

• This research was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (project code: W10-002)

Citation

@article{Purnamasari2026Impacts,
  author = {Purnamasari, Devi and Verseveld, Willem J. van and Buitink, Joost and Weiland, Frederiek Sperna and Dalmijn, Brendan and Teuling, Adriaan J. and Weerts, Albrecht},
  title = {Impacts of Incorporating Anthropogenic Water Use in a High‐Resolution Spatially Distributed Hydrological Model on Simulated Basin‐Scale Discharges},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2025wr041581},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr041581}
}