Abstract for: Reliability of drinking water supply in times of drought: exploring policy options for the Biesbosch, the Netherlands

Increasing occurrence of prolonged periods of drought in the Netherlands will impact the drinking water supply system connecting the Meuse river to the water reservoirs in the Biesbosch National Park. In this paper, a system dynamics approach gives insight in the reliability of the drinking water supply for the industry and local population for this system, and investigates limiting factors for available drinking water for various scenarios of economic growth and drought development until 2050. We find that water conservation policies and investments in environmentally friendly technologies can potentially extend future capacity of the drinking water system. We also find that water saving policies and investing in renewable energy can counteract effects of drought. This System Dynamics study is a first step towards an integrated water supply and demand systems model. We expect further research to shed light on potential policy implications to achieve reliability of the Biesbosch water supply system under drought conditions