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The HYDROGEIOS modelling framework represents the main processes of the hydrological cycle in heavily disturbed catchments, with decision-depended abstractions and interactions between surface and groundwater flows. A semi-distributed approach and a monthly simulation time step are adopted, which are sufficient for water resources management studies. The modelling philosophy aims to ensure consistency with the physical characteristics of the system, while keeping the number of parameters as low as possible. Therefore, multiple levels of schematisation and parameterisation are adopted, by combining multiple levels of geographical data. To optimally allocate human abstractions from the hydrosystem during a planning horizon or even to mimic the allocation occurred in a past period (e.g. the calibration period), in the absence of measured data, a linear programming problem is formulated and solved within each time step. With this technique the fluxes across the hydrosystem are estimated, and the satisfaction of physical and operational constraints is ensured. The model framework includes a parameter estimation module that involves various goodness-of-fit measures and state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms for global and multiobjective optimisation. By means of a challenging case study, the paper discusses appropriate modelling strategies which take advantage of the above framework, with the purpose to ensure a robust calibration and reproduce natural and human induced processes in the catchment as faithfully as possible.

A correct drought monitoring system requires facing the problem of rain gauge networks design. Results of our bibliographic research present five design methodologies, which have been studied with a view to select some of them for further analyses. These five methodologies are based on the theory of random fields. The spatial structure of precipitation fields is represented through the covariance fields. The key variable is the Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP), whose accuracy in the calculation is the only design criterion. The methodology of Lebel et al. (1987) has been chosen among the others because it is based on a well-known and widely tested method, that is to say the kriging, and it has been developed thanks to applications in nearby areas of the Mediterranean.