Scenarios of water resources management in the Lower Lusatian mining district, Germany

Abstract The Spree and Schwarze Elster river catchments have been heavily influenced by excessive open-cast lignite mining for 100 years. The extent of the problem, concerning water quantity and quality, is a threat for the ecosystems and the commercial water users of the region and other areas located downstream. Climate change and socio-economic trends of global change may aggravate the conflicts. Scenarios of future development with specific adaptation measures are derived and modelled, using an “integrated assessment procedure”. The methodological procedure and the models used are presented in this paper while first results are provided and future work is described.