Tailoring Climate Forecast Services for Effective Water Management in Emilia-Romagna

The Italian Living Lab has been focused on refining a climate forecast service prototype to support effective water management. Throughout 2024, a series of one-on-one interviews and technical sessions were conducted with stakeholders, including ARPAE, Emilia Central Reclamation Board, Burana Reclamation Board, IRETI, and AREN-EP. These meetings aimed to align the service functionalities with the diverse needs of water management bodies, addressing everything from visual design to operational decision support.

The main goal was to enhance the demo based on specific user requirements, optimizing the platform’s usability and decision-making support for drought and water scarcity scenarios. Key aspects discussed included improving the GUI layout, defining thresholds and indicators (e.g., “traffic light” zones for risk levels), and ensuring seamless integration with real-time data and historical references.

Leveraging detailed feedback, we enhanced the platform with simplified visuals and clearer legends for easy forecast interpretation. A more flexible, colour-coded warning system now adjusts to flow conditions and historical trends, while new anomaly indicators spotlight extreme conditions for proactive planning. Customizable daily, weekly, and monthly forecast views empower stakeholders to make confident, timely decisions to manage water resources effectively.

Key water resource management stakeholders from Regional Government to ARPAE, CB Emilia, CB Burana, IRETI, and AREN-EP, over 12 representatives have been interviewed separately.

The refined prototype will be demonstrated in an upcoming workshop in early 2025 to gather further feedback and insights before finalizing service functionalities.