Description

At regional level in the Penedès area, climate change has caused the average temperature to increase by +1.7ºC since 1950 (+0.25ºC/decade), especially in the summer months (+0.40ºC/decade). In this region, precipitation in the summer months has decreased by 25% since the mid-19th century and with increased torrential rainfall. The projected evolution of the average annual temperature by the year 2100 shows an increase of between +1.1ºC and 3.6ºC and a decrease in rainfall of between 38 and 168 mm for the Alt Penedès area. To guarantee the sustainability of viticulture in these scenarios, adaptive solutions are needed, which will be very varied. Among them, irrigation in our country has great scientific and technical support to increase its productive efficiency to very high limits. However, in order to irrigate, water is needed, which in the case of the Penedès is mostly underground, from the phreatic, which is not always available in the right quantity and quality.

The aim of the project is to evaluate the possibilities of transforming this area into irrigated land, the environmental impact of the process and to provide strategies for the partial transformation of dry land into irrigated land in this sector, which will take the form of guides for the end user and graphic materials for better strategic decision-making.