Glacier changes and related glacial lake expansion in the Bhutan Himalaya, 1990–2010

This paper discusses the recent retreat of glaciers and the changes in supraglacial lakes in the Bhutan Himalaya during the last two decades. We calculated the changes in clean and debris-covered glaciers and the formation, disappearance, and expansion of glacial lakes during the beginning of 1990s, 2000s, and 2010 using Landsat TM and ETM+ images. For this purpose, eight river sub-basins namely Wang Chu, Chamkar Chu, Dangme Chu, Kuri Chu, Mangde Chu, Mo Chu, Pho Chu and Northern Basin were considered. A retreating trend was found in the case of clean glaciers. Debris-covered glaciers in this region were found to have undergone an increase of about 29 %, and this increase was partially contributed by those expanded upstream. This increase in the debris-covered area is higher on the southern side of the Bhutan Himalaya. It is found that a number of moraine-dammed glacial lakes were formed during this period and can be potentially dangerous depending on the size, distance from the glacier and altitude. Most of the glacial lake formation and expansion occurred on the southern side of the Bhutan Himalaya.     

Desertification and Sustainable Development of the Heihe River Basin in Arid Northwestern China

Abstract

The Heihe River Basin of northwestern China is one of several areas severely affected by desertification. This article outlines the status of desertification in this basin. There are mainly 5 types of desertification in the Heihe River Basin, namely soil and water erosion, sandy desertification, soil aridization, soil salinization and vegetation degradation. Among the 5 types of desertification, the main desertification type is sandy desertification with an area of 10 771.97 km²; Second type is soil salinization with an area of 10 591.82 km²; Next to the soil salinization is the type of soil and water erosion with an area of 5 747.68 km² and the other types of desertification in the Heihe River Basin are soil aridization with just area of 1 369.96 km² and vegetation degradation type with an area of 1 490.48 km² respectively. Both natural and man-made factors are responsible for the causes of desertification development, among which the latter is the main driving force for desertification in the basin.     

Characteristics of deforestation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) between the 1980s and 2000s

There has been a significant lack of land cover change studies in relation to deforestation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). The purpose of this study is to characterize deforestation in North Korea through land cover change trajectory and spatial analysis. We used three 30-m gridded land cover data sets for North Korea representing the conditions of the late 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, respectively, as well as a digital elevation model. We examined the land cover trajectories during the two decades, i.e., which land cover became which at the pixel level. In addition, we calculated topographic characteristics of deforested pixels. Major findings from the study are summarized as follows: (1) net forest loss in North Korea was negligible in the latter decade compared to the former (>5000 km²), whereas other land cover changes were still active; (2) as a result of deforestation, forest land cover became mostly agricultural, particularly in the latter decade (95 %); (3) expansion of agricultural land cover continued during the time, increasing by >42 %; and (4) elevation and slope of deforested areas decreased slightly in the latter decade. The key contribution of the study is that it has demonstrated which land cover became which at the 30-m pixel level, complementing existing studies that examined overall forest stock in North Korea.     

Detection and attribution of lake-level dynamics in north-eastern central Europe in recent decades

The lake-rich glacial landscapes of north-eastern central Europe play an important role in the preservation and use of water resources, including protection of biodiversity, carbon storage and promotion of tourism. With a view to the last c. 20 years and the future, a regional ‘syndrome of water shortage’ has been frequently stated, which impairs particularly peatlands, flowing waters and lakes. Accordingly, the overall question addressed in this study is: What can regional and local gauging records tell us about decadal hydrological changes of lakes and their catchments? In the study area, most of the gauging records of lakes begin only in the late 1990s. Forty-five lake-level records were analysed by hierarchical agglomerative clustering, looking for the trend in the 1999–2008 time window. The analyses show that lake levels had varying dynamics, namely a negative, unclear or even a positive trend. The proportional shares of these three groups are 23 (51 %) to 15 (34 %) to 7 lakes (15 %), respectively. In group 1, largely groundwater-fed lakes, lake-level changes depend on groundwater-level changes. These are controlled by decreasing groundwater recharge in the catchments, which are caused by specific seasonal weather conditions in the observation period, and the impact of the dominating pine forests, which consume high quantities of water. In group 2, mainly stream lakes, direct human impact drives the lake levels through the management of weirs and ground sills. Nearly all lakes in group 3, consisting of river, stream and spring lakes, were subject to impoundment measures initiated by local rewetting projects. Thus, an important finding with respect to the impact of climate and land use is the fact that the (‘natural’) lakes of the region, primarily fed by groundwater and precipitation, show a predominantly negative lake-level trend in the period studied. Beyond the 10-year-time window analysed, further regional data show that periodic lake-level fluctuations with amplitudes of c. 1–2(–3) m are characteristic for regional groundwater-fed lakes.     

Restoration of the lower reaches of the Tarim River in China

The middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River are areas of rich biodiversity and natural resources in the inland arid region of China. However, the Tarim River and its associated wetlands have been severely damaged and fragmented during the past several decades. To restore the deteriorated ecosystem and preserve the endangered riverine vegetation along the Tarim River, a project for releasing water from upper dams to the lower reaches of the Tarim River was initiated by China’s government in 2000. Between 2000 and 2005, we monitored the responses of groundwater levels and vegetation to this mitigation along nine transects spaced at mean intervals of 45 km along the river from Daxihaizi Reservoir, the source of water conveyance, to the Lake Taitema, the mouth of the Tarim River. We found that average groundwater levels rose significantly from 8 to 4 m below ground surface. Species diversity did not change during the 5-year period, but the total vegetation coverage and canopy size of some species significantly increased. The endangered tree species, Populus euphratica, started to regenerate. Our results indicated that species diversity might recover very slowly, even if the trial water release program became a permanent river management practice. Management decisions about allocating limited water supplies among competing uses in arid regions will ultimately determine whether degraded river ecosystems, such as the Tarim River, can be restored.     

Channel migration zone mapping of the River Ganga in the Diara surrounding region of Eastern India

River channel migration is the universal phenomenon that is common in almost all alluvial rivers. The holy River Ganga, the heartbeat of India, is also not an exception in this case. It has shifted its course from time to time. After crossing the Rajmahal hills that is situated in the north-eastern corner of the Chota Nagpur plateau, this main river of India has started its lower course by flowing over the great low-lying flat plain of Bengal. In this flat plain area, the channel migration is a common phenomenon which is observed in the River Ganga also. The study is done in the segment of the Ganga River which is situated in the Diara surrounding area. Diara is a physical cum administrative region of the Malda district of the state of West Bengal of India which occupies an area of almost 900 km². For the identification of channel migration zone, several methods are used like construction of historical migration zone (HMZ), erosion buffer (EB), avulsion potential zone (APZ), restricted and un-restricted migration area (RMA and UrMA) and retreating migration zone (RMZ). The impact of the channel migration over the villages of the Diara region has also been depicted in this study. Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (RS–GIS) is used to perform this study by taking the help of historical maps, Survey of India topographical sheets, LANDSAT imageries, etc. The results show that the river has a historical migration zone of 855.55 km² during 1926–2016 period which is near the entire area of the Diara region (i.e. 900 km²). The construction of EB over the Ganga River for the next 100 years shows that more than half of the area of the Diara region will go under the river bed.     

Potential for the desalination of a brackish groundwater aquifer under a background of rising sea level via salt intrusion prevention river gates in the coastal area of the Red River Delta,Vietnam

Additional freshwater sources are required in many parts of the world, including the coastal areas of the Red River Delta (RRD), where the groundwater (GW) is generally brackish. Determining a feasible method for desalinating brackish aquifers would help provide additional freshwater sources. However, substantial desalination of brackish aquifers cannot be achieved under the natural conditions of GW flow and precipitation recharge. Although rainfall recharge to the shallow Holocene aquifer has occurred for hundreds of years, the aquifer still remains brackish since the natural hydraulic conditions do not allow a complete mixing between the fresh recharged water and aquifer salinized water or the discharging of the aquifer salinized water. The planned salt intrusion prevention gates in the Red River, Tra Ly River and Hoa River in the RRD coastal area, combined with increased GW abstraction and associated aquifer recharge with fresh river water, could result in the gradual desalination of the shallow Holocene aquifer. These effects would help improve the area’s resilience to freshwater shortages and sea level rises and would allow for the creation of a long-term sustainable water resource development plan to manage the salinization of water resources caused by sea level rises. Finite element (FE) modeling of GW flow, solute transport via GW flow and dynamic programming (DP) have been used to study the potential desalination of brackish aquifers, the magnitude of GW abstraction quantities and the spatial and temporal aspects of desalination. FE modeling of GW flow coupled with DP was utilized to identify the magnitude of sustainable abstraction quantities and the GW flow field, which is required in salt transport models. Multiple sizes of elements and time steps were used to adapt to the unsteady state of GW flow and hydraulic head variables between the elements in the FE meshes in order to ensure reasonable accuracy of numerical modeling. The GW flow and salt transport modeling and DP allowed determining quasi-steady-state GW abstraction rates and aquifer salinity levels for conditions that did and did not include the shallow Holocene unconfined aquifer recharge from rainfall. The aquifer modeled domain which is supposed to serve the pumping well field is 1.5 km². The results showed that the Holocene aquifer may provide a stable abstraction rate of 100 m³/day starting in the 6th year (for the worst-case scenario with zero aquifer recharge from rainfall) to 130 m³/day starting in the 3rd year (for the scenario with aquifer recharge equal to 3% of the rainfall levels). During the first years of GW abstraction, the desalination of the brackish upper Holocene aquifer will mainly occur in the area close to the river, and at the 18th year of abstraction, almost the entire area between the river and line of pumping wells would be desalinized. From the 10th year of abstraction, the abstracted water has a total dissolved solids content lower than 0.5 g/l for the worst-case scenario with zero aquifer recharge from rainfall and lower than 0.42 g/l for the scenario with aquifer recharge equal to 3% of the rainfall. The modeling results indicate the simulated process by which abstraction of groundwater adjacent to the Tra Ly River could desalinize the brackish aquifer via freshwater recharge from the river.     

Effect of human use,season and habitat on ungulate density in Kanha Tiger Reserve,Madhya Pradesh,India

Conservation practitioners require strata specific, seasonal species densities for habitat management. Herein, we use stratified distance sampling in Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) with 200 spatial transects and an effort of 1200 km walk in the year 2013. Analysis was done to access (a) impact of human use and (b) effect of habitat and season on ungulate densities in KTR. While a single detection function for each species was used for estimating density within human-restricted core and multiple use buffer of KTR, species-specific seasonal detections were modelled for each habitat. Ungulate biomass was 4.8 times higher in the core area compared with the buffer zone. The core supported a herbivore density and biomass of 50 ± 4.80/km² and 26,806 ± 2573 kg/km², respectively. Chital were found to be most abundant, having a density of 30.1 ± 4.34/km² and contributing 33 % of the biomass with a habitat preference for grasslands (106 ± 39/km²) in summer and winter. Sambar had highest density (15.4 ± 3.34/km²) in bamboo-mixed habitat, in both seasons. Gaur contributed 39 % of the ungulate biomass and showed a seasonal shift in density from sal forests (9.65 ± 3.55/km²) in summer to miscellaneous forests (8.13 ± 1.94/km²) in winter. Barasingha were restricted to grasslands with similar summer and winter densities of 1.56 ± 0.76/km². Chousingha were rare (0.1 ± 0.04/km²), found mostly in miscellaneous forests and plateau grasslands. Grassland and bamboo-mixed forests supported 58 % of the total ungulate biomass. Management for an optimal habitat mosaic that maintains ungulate diversity, addresses the specific needs of endangered species and maximizes ungulate biomass is recommended.     

Present to future sediment transport of the Brahmaputra River: reducing uncertainty in predictions and management

The Brahmaputra River in South Asia carries one of the world’s highest sediment loads, and the sediment transport dynamics strongly affect the region’s ecology and agriculture. However, present understanding of sediment conditions and dynamics is hindered by limited access to hydrological and geomorphological data, which impacts predictive models needed in management. We here synthesize reported peer-reviewed data relevant to sediment transport and perform a sensitivity analysis to identify sensitive and uncertain parameters, using the one-dimensional model HEC-RAS, considering both present and future climatic conditions. Results showed that there is considerable uncertainty in openly available estimates (260–720 Mt yr^?1) of the annual sediment load for the Brahmaputra River at its downstream Bahadurabad gauging station (Bangladesh). This may aggravate scientific impact studies of planned power plant and reservoir construction in the region, as well as more general effects of ongoing land use change and climate change. We found that data scarcity on sediment grain size distribution, water discharge, and Manning’s roughness coefficient had the strongest controls on the modelled sediment load. However, despite uncertainty in absolute loads, we showed that predicted relative changes, including a future increase in sediment load by about 40 % at Bahadurabad by 2075–2100, were consistent across multiple model simulations. Nevertheless, for the future scenarios we found that parameter uncertainty almost doubled for water discharge and river geometry, highlighting that improved information on these parameters could greatly advance the abilities to predict and manage current and future sediment dynamics in the Brahmaputra river basin.     

Estimation on wetland loss and its restoration potential in Modern Yellow River Delta,Shandong Province of China

Wetland is one of the most important ecosystems with varied functions and structures, and its loss has been a major issue. Wetland loss in Modern Yellow River Delta (MYRD) becomes a serious environmental problem, so its restoration attracts a great deal of attention from academia and governments. This article proposes a GIS-based multi-criteria comprehensive evaluation methodology for potential estimation of wetland restoration, using MYRD as an example. The model uses four kinds of data (hydrology, terrain, soil, and land use) and could be adapted by planners for use in identifying the suitability of locations as wetland mitigation sites at any site or region. In the application of the model in the MYRD, the research developed a lost wetland distributed map taking the better wetland situation of 1995 as the reference, and elevated the overall distribution trends of wetland restoration potential based on wetland polygon. The results indicated that the total area of wetland loss from 1995 to 2014 was 568.12 km², which includes 188.83 km² natural wetland and 21.80 km² artificial wetland, respectively. The areas of lost wetland with low, middle, and high resilience ability are 126.82 km², 259.92 km², and 119.59 km², occupying 25.05%, 51.33%, and 23.62%, respectively. The high-restoration-potential wetland included 98.47 km² of natural wetland and 21.12 km² of artificial wetland, which are mainly bush, reed, and ponds. The high-restoration-potential wetland is mainly distributed in the vicinity of Gudong oil field, the Yellow River Delta protected areas, and the eastern sides of Kenli county and Dongying city.     

Climate change and economic consequences for inland waterway transport in Europe

Future climate conditions are likely to affect inland waterway transport in Europe. According to some climate scenarios, in summer, in the river Rhine, periods with low water levels are likely to occur more often and become more serious. Then inland waterway transport carriers will experience more severe restrictions on the load factor of their inland ships, which implies a stronger reduction in transport capacity in the market. Transport prices will rise under such conditions. Some studies reviewed in this paper find that at extremely low water levels, the price per tonne for inland waterway transport in the river Rhine area will almost double. These increased transport prices result in welfare losses. For the dry summer in 2003, the losses for North West Europe are estimated to sum up to around €480 million. Increased transport prices trigger adaptation. Inland waterway carriers may use smaller vessels, and shippers have the opportunity to shift from inland waterway transport to alternative transport modes in periods with low water levels. This effect is probably rather modest, however, with a modal shift to road and rail smaller than 10 %. Also, changes in transport costs may lead to relocation of certain economic activities in the long run.     

Comparative analysis of land use and lake water quality in rural and urban zones of south Chennai, India

Chennai city, the capital of Tamil Nadu state in South India, has been experiencing rapid expansion since the last two decades, resulting in major changes in land use and degradation of wetlands. Small lakes in the peri-urban areas face severe strain on their environment due to transition of rural to urban conditions, leaving at stake their aquatic health and intended uses. This paper studies the role of urbanization and land use changes in the water quality of peri-urban (Rajakilpakkam) and rural (Vengaivasal) lakes. Water samples were collected and analysed for temperature, total dissolved solids, major ions, nutrients and biological oxygen demand as per standard methods. The temperature, pH and biological oxygen demand did not differ between lakes, while total dissolved solids (p = 0.008), alkalinity (p = 0.000), total hardness (p = 0.001) and phosphate (p = 0.000) were significantly higher in Rajakilpakkam. Seasonal and spatial variations in water quality between the lakes showed the direct impact of rapid and uncontrolled growth of built-up areas in the catchment area, in enhancing waste water inflows with inorganic salts and nutrients in Rajakilpakkam lake compared with Vengaivasal lake. Urbanization of the catchment and encroachments in Rajakilpakkam lake tends to reduce the social interdependence of lake and community and promote disuse, leading to decline in water quality. The impending environmental costs caused by urbanization to these lakes will only be tackled, if the main issues of domestic and industrial discharges and encroachments are addressed properly.     

They’ll be dammed: the sustainability implications of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) in Malaysia

This article examines the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy in Malaysia, or SCORE, a US $105 billion infrastructure development plan in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, from a sustainability standpoint. SCORE aims to build 20,000 megawatts of hydroelectric dams along a 320 km corridor comprising more than 70,000 km² by 2030. The article begins by explaining social science methods utilized for its research interviews and site visits. It then argues that sustainability consists of seven principles articulated in international law: prudence, equity, responsibility, precaution, justice, governance, and compatibility. Next, the paper introduces readers to SCORE before assessing it according to these seven sustainability criteria. The paper finds that SCORE erodes environmental prudence by emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide and feeding industries that will pollute the land and water. It worsens intergenerational equity by exacerbating poverty and consolidating wealth for corporations and politicians. It degrades responsibility by intensifying tropical deforestation and flaunts precaution by downplaying and ignoring risks to water quality and availability. It is unjust, imposing dams on communities and forcibly relocating thousands of indigenous people, mitigates good governance by condoning bribes and kickbacks along with the violent suppression of dissent, and is incompatible with Malaysia’s own energy policy targets and international standards.     

Tritium concentrations of groundwater in Naka Terrace,Ibaraki Prefecture,Japan

Levels of tritium in groundwater of the inland area of Naka Terrace were measured during 1981–1983 to establish a baseline for evaluation of any changes which may result from release of tritium from nuclear facilities in the coastal region of the terrace. Most of the samples yielded concentrations in the range 40–90 pCi litre⁻¹, which were similar to those of two rivers bordering the area of concern, whereas tritium levels in monthly precipitation samples were in the range 30–50 pCi litre⁻¹. These results imply that the rivers are fed from groundwater reservoirs, which are releasing the higher tritium levels recharged during the previous 20 years when bomb-produced tritium caused higher levels in precipitation. Only two groundwater samples yielded concentrations below detection limit, both from the deep Pleistocene gravel layer in a buried river channel underlying the terrace. Some ground-waters in the coastal area yielding more than 100 pCi litre⁻¹ are considered to be already influenced by tritium released from nuclear facilities.     

Analyzing the hydrologic effects of region-wide land and water development interventions: a case study of the Upper Blue Nile basin

In the drylands of the Upper Blue Nile basin, high climate variability and land degradation are rampant. To enhance adaptive capacity in the region, various soil and water conservation interventions have been implemented. Moreover, water resources development schemes such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam should be implemented by 2025. We modeled the effects of these interventions on surface runoff in the basin for both current and future (2025) basin conditions, using the runoff coefficient method in a spatially explicit approach. Under current conditions, we observed high spatial variability of mean annual runoff. The northeastern Blue Nile-1 sub-basin produces the highest mean annual runoff (391 mm or 10 × 10⁹ m³), whereas the northwestern Blue Nile-2 sub-basin produces the lowest mean annual runoff (178 mm or 0.2 × 10⁹ m³). The basin generates a total annual runoff volume of 47.7 × 10⁹ m³, of which about 54 % comes from cultivated land. The strong association between land use and topography masked the direct effect of rainfall on runoff. By 2025, total annual runoff yield could decrease by up to 38 % if appropriate basin-wide soil and water conservation interventions and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam are implemented. However, the full effects of most physical structures will only last for 1 or 2 years without regular maintenance. The improved understanding of the dynamics of the Upper Blue Nile basin’s hydrology provided by the present study will help planners to design appropriate management scenarios. Developing the basin’s database remains important for a holistic understanding of the impacts of future development interventions.     

Island-based catchment—The Taiwan example

Rapid economic and industrial development in Taiwan over the past five decades has elevated the islands standing and earned it a place in the group known as the Four Small Dragons of Asia. Such growth, however, has been at the expense of the environment. There are currently nearly 23 million people juggling for space on the small island of 35,873 km². Aggravating the matter further, the central mountain ranges and hills take up 73.6% of the land area with some 156 peaks surpassing 3,000 m. As a result, most people live in coastal plains which amount to only 9,490 km². Pressure to move people inland has led to road construction and deforestation, both of which have contributed to an already high denudation rate of topsoil. As a consequence of this, thirteen rivers in Taiwan are now ranked among the top 20 worldwide in terms of sediment yield. Aside from this, the frequency of both floods and droughts increased prior to 1990, perhaps because of deforestation and global warming. Fortunately, the new conservation-orientated forest management policy of 1991 has alleviated the problem, somewhat, and the occurrence of floods and droughts has since decreased. The problem of water shortage, however, has worsened because of the warming trend in atmospheric temperature. Damming may ameliorate the water shortage problem but may affect the shoreline stability, as well as the ecology and water quality in the estuaries. Furthermore, these detrimental effects may go far beyond the estuaries, and even fisheries on the continental shelves may be affected.     

Contemporary changes in open water surface area of Lake Inle, Myanmar

From 1935 to 2000, the net open water area of Inle Lake in Central Shan State, Myanmar decreased from 69.10 to 46.69 km², a loss of 32.4% during this 65-year period. Local beliefs are that losses in lake area have been even greater within the last 100–200 years. Various activities, including timber removal, shifting agriculture in the uplands by various ethnic groups, and unsustainable cultivation practices on the low- and mid-level hillslopes around the lake, have been blamed for both historical and ongoing sedimentation. We take issue with attributing loss of lake area to these activities, and propose instead that ongoing “in-lake” and “near-lake” agricultural practices are the main sources of contemporary sediment and loss of open water area. About 93% (i.e., 20.84 km²) of the recent loss in open water area of the lake is due to the development of floating garden agriculture, largely along the west side of the lake. Direct environmental impacts associated with this practice and with other agriculture activities within the wetlands and margins of the lake include sedimentation, eutrophication, and pollution. Whilst the sustainability of hillslope agriculture and past forestry practices can indeed be questioned, a more urgent need is to address these "in-lake" and "near-lake" practices.     

Landscape pattern and census area as determinants of the diversity of farmland avifauna in Estonia

Landscape structure affects farmland bird species richness and diversity at different scales. We develop a predictive, metric-based model for farmland bird species richness in different bird guilds and study how the research area size influences the relationship between bird diversity and landscape metrics. Thirty research locations (randomly selected, each containing four counting points) were located in three counties of Estonia. In early summer 2002 and 2004, two bird counts per point were carried out in each research location. Three landscape metrics (patch density, edge density and Shannon’s diversity index) were calculated at three spatial scales: 100- and 200-m buffer zones around the count points and in a 1 km² at 1 m × 1 m grain size. Using generalized additive mixed models with repeated measures, we found in most cases that the proportion of variance explained between the bird variables and landscape metrics increased with an increased study area thus demonstrating the effect of scale. Thus, a larger research area is recommended for landscape metrics. At large scales, however, all used landscape metrics were equally good predictors for bird species richness.     

Role of hydrological factors in species diversity of algal communities: A case study of the Komarovka River, Primorye, Russia

Studies on the Komarovka River, flowing in the zone of mixed conifer-broadleaf forests in the southwestern Sikhote-Alin Mountains (Primorye, Russia), have shown that the formation of river flow and multispecific phytobenthos communities takes place mainly within 60–70 km² of its catchment area. The summer-autumn runoff rate and taxonomic composition of algae in this river segment are closely correlated with the catchment area. The relative water content of the river decreases downstream because of decrease in the number of tributaries, while changes in the taxonomic diversity of algae depend on river flow velocity and water temperature.     

Integrated hydrologic–economic decision support system for groundwater use confronting climate change uncertainties in the Tunuyán River basin,Argentina

This study presents an integrated hydrologic–economic model as decision support system for groundwater use and incorporates uncertainties of climate change. The model was developed with the Vensim software (Ventana Systems) for system dynamic simulations. The software permitted the integration of economic variables along with hydrologic variables, in a unified format with the aim of evaluating the economic impacts of climate change on arid environments. To test the model, we applied it in one of the upper Tunuyán River sub-basin, located in the Mendoza Province (Argentina), where irrigation comes from groundwater. The model defines the best mix of crops and the total land use required to maximize the total river sub-basin monetary income, considering as a limit the amount of water that does not exceed the natural annual aquifer recharge. To estimate the impacts of climatic changes, four scenarios were compared: the business as usual (with the number of existing wells) in a dry year with a temperature increase of 4 °C; the business as usual in a wet year with an increase in temperature of 1.1 °C; an efficient use of wells in a dry year and a temperature increase of 4 °C and an efficient use of wells in a wet year with a temperature increase of 1.1 °C. Outputs calculated by the model were: land use per crop, total sub-basin net benefit, total sub-basin water extraction, water extraction limit depending on river discharge and total number of wells required to irrigate the entire area. Preliminary results showed that the number of existing wells exceeded the optimized number of wells required to sustainably irrigate the entire river sub-basin. Results indicated that in an average river discharge year, if wells were efficiently used, further rural development would be possible, until the limit of 350 million m³ of water extraction per year was reached (650 million m³ for a wet year and 180 million m³ for a dry year). The unified format and the low cost of the software license make the model a useful tool for Water Resources Management Institutions, particularly in developing countries.