Mountains, said to be the world's water towers, are central for the provision of downstream water demands. This provision service is strongly challenged by climate change associated with changes in runoff amount and seasonality caused by the retreat of glaciers, rising snow lines, and changes in precipitation. One potential adaptation strategy is the construction of new water reservoirs or the adjustment of current reservoir management strategies. These strategies need to account for various water uses originating from sectors and governments with different economic interests. Here, we investigate governance processes leading to reservoir management strategies ignoring downstream water needs in one of the most important water towers of the world, the European Alps. We assess why governance processes can lead to a coordination gap between an upstream reservoir and downstream water needs. We show that downstream water deficits could potentially be covered through an upstream reservoir under mean and partially under extremely low inflow conditions. However, these hydrological conditions were neglected in the governance processes. The decision‐making when issuing the new reservoir concession was influenced by (a) a lack of knowledge and of an appropriate reservoir‐management study, (b) an interest to increase renewable energy production, (c) a focus on environmental agreements in the participatory process, and (d) economic interests. Our analyses provide factors, which need to be considered when designing governance processes for the management of reservoirs in world's important and vulnerable water towers. We conclude that immediate action is required toward balancing upstream and downstream water needs in governance processes.

中文翻译：

---

世界水塔的水库治理需要预测多用途

山脉被称为世界的水塔，是满足下游用水需求的中心。由于冰川退缩，雪线上升和降水变化引起的径流量和季节性变化，气候变化对这项提供服务提出了严峻挑战。一种潜在的适应策略是建造新的水库或调整当前的水库管理策略。这些策略需要考虑来自具有不同经济利益的部门和政府的各种用水。在这里，我们调查了导致水库管理策略的治理流程，而忽略了世界上最重要的水塔之一，欧洲阿尔卑斯山中的下游水需求。我们评估了治理过程为何会导致上游水库和下游水需求之间的协调缺口的原因。我们表明，在均值和极低流入条件下，下游水赤字有可能通过上游水库得到弥补。但是，这些水文条件在治理过程中被忽略了。发行新的水库特许权时的决策受到以下因素的影响：（a）缺乏知识和适当的水库管理研究；（b）增加可再生能源生产的兴趣；（c）重点关注环境协议参与过程，以及（d）经济利益。我们的分析提供了一些因素，这些因素在设计用于管理世界重要和脆弱水塔中水库的治理流程时需要考虑。