© 2025 inventWater | Privacy policy | Legal notice | Cookie policy
Water is essential to life, but climate change, pollution, and growing demand are putting freshwater resources under pressure like never before. inventWater brought together 15 young researchers from across Europe to develop new tools that help scientists, water managers, and policymakers predict and protect water quality for the future. Here’s what we found, and why it matters.
🌡️ Climate change is already affecting our water
Rising temperatures are changing the quality of rivers, lakes, and coastal aquifers, making harmful algal blooms more frequent, reducing oxygen in deep waters, and accelerating saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies.
đź”® We built tools to predict water problems before they happen
The inventWater network developed forecasting models that can anticipate water quality issues weeks, months, or even decades in advance, giving water managers time to act before problems become crises.
🌍 From the Alps to coastal deltas, Europe to Africa
Our 15 researchers worked on real-world water systems across the continent, including Scandinavian lakes, Iberian river basins, and coastal aquifers in the Mediterranean. And also big lakes and rivers in Africa. making the results relevant across very different climates and geographies.
đź’ˇ Better science means better decisions
The models and indicators developed by inventWater are designed to be used by the people who manage water every day — helping them choose the most effective adaptation strategies in the face of an uncertain climate future.
Highlighted discoveries
Without stronger action, phosphorus loads to major rivers will keep rising
Future projections show that rivers worldwide will carry ever-greater nutrient pollution unless policies change — with serious consequences for downstream water quality.
Read the full study →Satellites can now help us model algae blooms in lakes more accurately
Calibrating lake models with satellite remote sensing data dramatically improves our ability to predict harmful algae blooms — a step forward for water managers everywhere.
Read the full study →Human water use is now built into a major global water model
A new module explicitly represents how people use and return water in the Community Water Model — making global water projections more realistic and policy-relevant.
Read the full study →Coastal waters face pollution from many directions at once
Nutrients, chemicals and plastics all reach our coasts simultaneously — and managing them one at a time isn't enough to protect marine and coastal ecosystems.
Read the full study →Better indicators give us a fuller picture of lake health
A new set of comprehensive indicators goes beyond simple nutrient levels to capture the real state of lake ecosystems — helping regulators make better-informed decisions.
Read the full study →Honest forecasts: accounting for uncertainty makes models more useful
Water quality models that openly quantify their own uncertainty give managers more reliable guidance — not false precision that erodes trust when predictions miss.
Read the full study →We can now predict drinking water safety risks in advance
A new model anticipates when climate variability will trigger dangerous by-products in drinking water treatment — giving managers time to act before people are affected.
Read the full study →A simple model to predict when lakes will run out of oxygen
A new tool lets water managers anticipate oxygen depletion in lakes under climate change — before fish populations and aquatic ecosystems start to suffer.
Read the full study →How a reservoir shapes water quality far downstream
Dam management decisions ripple through to downstream rivers — and we can now model exactly how, helping water managers make more informed operational choices.
Read the full study →A new tool to predict deepwater oxygen crashes in lakes
A lightweight model anticipates when lake deep waters will lose oxygen under climate warming — critical information for protecting drinking water sources and aquatic life.
Read the full study →Warmer water means fewer fish worldwide
Global warming is projected to shrink freshwater fish populations worldwide — threatening biodiversity and the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on fishing.
Read the full study →Lakes and rivers play a bigger role in the carbon cycle than we realised
Carbon buried along the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum is a significant and under-counted part of the global carbon budget — with implications for climate modelling.
Read the full study →Water, food and energy are inseparable — and our models now reflect that
A new framework captures how water decisions affect food production and energy systems, helping policymakers navigate trade-offs in an uncertain climate future.
Read the full study →Tracking nutrients from farmland all the way to the lake
A new integrated model connects what happens in the surrounding watershed to water quality inside the lake — giving managers a complete picture of pollution sources.
Read the full study →All 34 publications
Warming and pollution work together to damage lakes more than either does alone
Kong et al. — Environmental Science and Technology
doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07181German lakes are losing oxygen in their deep waters as temperatures rise
Schwefel et al. — Ambio
doi.org/10.1007/s13280-024-02046-zClimate change has left a measurable fingerprint on river flows and sediment worldwide
Nkwasa et al. — Climatic Change
doi.org/10.1007/s10584-024-03702-9Warming penetrates deeper into reservoirs than previously assumed
Mi et al. — Journal of Cleaner Production
doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142347Multiple global models now agree on how much freshwater temperatures will rise
Jones et al. — Environmental Research: Water
doi.org/10.1088/3033-4942/addffaWe identified why regional and global climate models disagree — and how to reconcile them
Taranu et al. — Climate Dynamics
doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06540-6Global warming is set to reduce freshwater fish populations worldwide
Rinaldo et al. — Journal of Fish Biology
doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15603A lightweight model can predict oxygen crashes in lakes under climate change
Yaghouti et al. — Environmental Modelling & Software
doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.106941Reservoirs affect downstream river water quality in ways we can now model accurately
Nakulopa et al. — Science of The Total Environment
doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169460Real-time sensors help water managers catch pollution problems before they escalate
Zhan et al. — Inland Waters
doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2021.1987796New comprehensive indicators give a fuller picture of lake health than nutrients alone
Suresh et al. — NAC 2023
A systematic review of how well existing eutrophication indicators actually perform
Suresh et al.
Recent advances in water quality indicators for eutrophication across Europe
Suresh et al. — EGU General Assembly 2023
doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7565Without stronger action, phosphorus loads to major rivers will keep rising
Tilahun et al. — Environmental Research: Water
doi.org/10.1088/3033-4942/adead8River phosphorus doesn't always respond to management the way models predict — here's why
Tilahun et al. — Science of The Total Environment
doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173677A new model tracks nutrient flows from farmland all the way to the lake
Clopin et al. — Environmental Modelling & Software
doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2025.106321Short-term lake temperature forecasts are accurate enough to trigger early management action
Paiz et al. — Ecosphere
doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70335Satellite turbidity measurements can fill monitoring gaps and improve water quality models
Nkwasa et al. — Environmental Modeling & Assessment
doi.org/10.1007/s10666-024-09972-yAccounting for model uncertainty gives water managers more honest, more useful forecasts
Paiz et al. — Water Research
doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.12323813 strategies to make large-scale water quality models more credible and trustworthy
Strokal et al. — Discover Water
doi.org/10.1007/s43832-024-00149-yClimate variability can trigger dangerous by-products in drinking water — and we can now predict when
Pedregal-Montes et al. — Water Research
doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.121791Carbon buried in rivers, lakes and coastal zones is larger than the global carbon budget assumed
Henry et al. — Earth-Science Reviews
doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104791Open data sharing in water science is harder than it looks — a frank assessment
Mesman et al. — Frontiers in Environmental Science
doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1497105A simple model predicts oxygen depletion in lakes under changing climate conditions
Nkwalale et al. — Inland Waters
doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2024.2306113Rivers carry nutrients, plastics and chemicals from land to the global ocean — a worldwide accounting
Bak et al. — Environmental Research Letters
doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adf860Future river pollution scenarios show how today's policy choices shape tomorrow's waterways
Micella et al. — Earth's Future
doi.org/10.1029/2024ef004712Coastal waters receive a toxic mix from multiple sources — only joined-up management can fix it
Micella et al. — Marine Pollution Bulletin
doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115902A new framework helps policymakers balance water, food and energy trade-offs
Schlemm et al. — Science of The Total Environment
doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172839Nature's services — clean water, flood protection, biodiversity — must be part of water planning
Schlemm et al. — Environmental Development
doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101272What local stakeholders actually want from water management often differs from what models assume
Schlemm et al. — Ecosystem Services
doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2024.101688Human water use is now explicitly modelled in a major global water model
Taranu et al. — Geoscientific Model Development
doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7365-2024A new perspective on how global models should represent human water demand
Taranu — preprint
doi.org/10.31223/x5nh8hHistorical and future water use data can now be combined in a single consistent dataset
Taranu et al. — preprint
doi.org/10.31223/x5td9dPhosphorus response in rivers is more complex than current management frameworks assume
Tilahun et al. — Science of The Total Environment
doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173677© 2021 Invent Water | Privacy policy | Legal notice | Cookie policy