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Abstract

Water managers usually consider the hydrological boundaries as relevant entities in which water needs to be managed to fulfill ecological and societal demands. However, despite this recognition, challenges remain in ensuring water of good quality and quantity, which became particularly evident in recent drought years in Europe. Against this background, we consider long-distance effects – so-called telecouplings – as relevant processes that have an effect on local water resources and consumption patterns. In this study, we explore the effects of three distinct telecoupling flows: (i) long-distance water transfers, (ii) international tourists and (iii) international trade that carries virtual water volumes. We investigate the mechanisms of how telecoupling flows alter local water balances and consumption patterns in three case studies of Germany, Croatia and Spain. We make use of water consumption statistics, groundwater recharge estimates and trade statistics to quantify the telecoupling flows. The results suggest that telecouplings can have positive effects by balancing water-deficit and surplus areas as in the case of long-distance water transfers. However, negative consequences on water availability can occur by international tourists, who translocate their water consumption habits to dry regions and increase local water consumption at their destinations. In a similar manner, food consumption patterns impact on groundwater resources in regions of agricultural production that strongly rely on irrigation.We see the necessity to incorporate respective telecoupling effects into water management strategies by explicitly targeting certain entry points to adjust telecoupling flows, which likely goes beyond the hydrological boundaries that are usually considered as system boundaries.