Precipitation trends in the Medina del Campo Aquifer region (Spain) towards implementing Nature Base Solutions for drought and flood events

Abstract

Any argument for Nature Based Solutions in a semi-arid agricultural basin rests on what the climate has actually been doing, not on what it is assumed to do. This contribution examines observed precipitation records for the Medina del Campo aquifer region in the Duero basin and looks for trends over the instrumental period, separating the signals relevant to drought — accumulated deficits, dry-spell length, the seasonal distribution of rainfall — from those relevant to flooding, notably the concentration of rainfall into shorter and more intense events.

The analysis is presented at the scale of the groundwater body, which is the scale at which the NAIAD demonstration site is defined and at which recharge, wetland condition and agricultural demand interact. Establishing the trend matters for the design of measures: a strategy justified by flood attenuation alone is different from one that also has to survive longer dry periods, and measures such as wetland restoration and managed recharge are attractive precisely because they act on both ends of the distribution.

The work was presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly.