Assessing rainfall-runoff models for the management of Lake Verbano

Growing human pressure and potential change in precipitation pattern induced by climate change require a more efficient and sustainable use of water resources. Hydrological models can provide a fundamental contribution to this purpose, especially as increasing availability of meteorological data and forecast allows for more accurate runoff predictions. In this article, two models are presented for describing the flow formation process in a sub-alpine catchment: a distributed parameter, physically based model, and a lumped parameter, empirical model. The scope is to compare the two modelling approaches and to assess the impact of hydrometeorological information, either observations or forecast, on water resources management. This is carried out by simulating the real-time management of the regulated lake that drains the catchment, using the inflow predictions provided by the two models. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.