Abstract

European National Road Authorities (NRAs) have recognized for a long time that climate change will have a significant effect on their assets and operations. Especially, water management assets will be affected. The damage caused by floods and rain to infrastructure assets amounts to €600 million annually, making it by far the dominant weather impact already in the current climate, let alone in the future when it is expected that likelihood and intensity of intense rainfall will increase. Many challenges exist in addressing intense rainfall events into proper design and maintenance of water management systems. These challenges exist both in the field of climate science itself as well as in the translation of climate projections into proper design and maintenance of water management systems. This paper presents results of the WATCH project (WATer management in the face of climate CHange) that was commissioned under the CEDR 2015 call - Climate Change: From Desk to Road. It addresses climate change, socio economic evaluation and sustainable drainage systems.