Water shortages and droughts have become common problems worldwide, including in Europe and Meditteranean, with negative impacts on ecosystems, agriculture and drinking water supplies. Climate change is leading to rising average temperatures, more frequent heat waves, altered rainfall patterns and increased evapotranspiration, which are further exacerbating the situation. Managing scarce drinking water resources is becoming one of the key challenges of the 21st century as the demand for water continues to increase.
The water supply in the Slovenian Istria region is of key importance for different economic activities, but the karst terrain makes it challenging, as water drains rapidly underground, limiting the exploitation of surface water resources. Current water sources, such as the river Rižana and the Croatian source Gradolo, present challenges to achieving self-sufficiency. These challenges have led to several initiatives to explore alternative water sources to water supply of Slovenian Istria.
The Rižana water supply system, built in 1935, supplies the coastal municipalities of Koper, Piran, Izola and Ankaran, and provides water for approximately 87,000 inhabitants, rising to around 130,000 users during the summer season. The system comprises more than 988 km of pipelines of various diameters and materials.
Analyses of annual and monthly water consumption between 2006 and 2022 conducted in this work revealed different patterns of water consumption, which vary according to hydrological conditions. We focused in particular on tourism activities, analysing the number of guests in different months and their water consumption. The results were broken down by category of tourist accommodation, taking into account the number of stars as a measure of quality. The aysis of water consumption in tourism highlighted the challenges of distinguishing between constraints for local residents and tourists, and underlined the need for sustainable solutions such as water-saving devices and grey water recycling to reduce the consumption of water resources in tourist accommodation. Proposed solutions also include the use of grey water for irrigation of green areas and its reuse in agriculture and industry, which would contribute to a more sustainable use of water.
|
