Project partners: IVL Swedish Environmental Institute, Västra Gästrikland’s community planning administration, Gävleborg County Administrative Board, SLU and a municipal energy company.
Grant: SEK 4 825 000
Project duration: 2026-06-01 to 2029-05-31
Contact person: Hugo Settergren, IVL
Purpose and objectives
The project aims to establish the Water Flow Plan as a practical management and planning tool at the river basin level that bridges the gaps between regional water management, climate adaptation and municipal spatial planning to reduce risks from floods and droughts. The project has three main objectives: 1) to develop, test and anchor a prototype for the Water Flow Plan for Gavleån, 2) to develop and analyze in-depth action scenarios in selected sub-areas through structured stakeholder dialogue, and 3) to develop a scalable process that makes it possible to introduce the method in other Swedish and international river basins.
Expected impacts and results
The project is expected to result in a finished prototype for the Water Flow Plan for the Gavleån river basin, proposals for management and updating of the plan, a guide for the methodology and how it can be scaled up. The project’s policy brief is aimed at relevant authorities and policies on the Water Flow Plan as a method can be integrated into Swedish water management and climate adaptation. In the short term, the capacity of stakeholders to localize and coordinate measures against floods and droughts is strengthened. In the longer term, the dissemination of the methodology contributes to more proactive, cost-effective and equitable flow planning, which directly supports the Water Wise Society’s mission of resilient water supply and management, especially adaptation of society to increased flow extremes.
Planned approach and implementation
The project is three years long and organized in five work packages. IVL leads project management and communication. Gävleborg County Administrative Board is analyzing how the Water Flow Plan can be linked to existing water management and climate adaptation. IVL, SLU and VGS and the County Administrative Board jointly develop the prototype for Gavleån’s Water Flow Plan by synthesizing hydrology, climate scenarios, land use and risk maps. VGS then leads in-depth studies in selected sub-areas, where action scenarios are developed and tested in structured dialogues with municipalities, companies, landowners and civil society. Finally, IVL evaluates working methods and results together with the partners and produces guidance and policy briefs for national and international scaling up.
The text on this page was written by the project team. The content has not been reviewed by our editors.
Goals and tasks
- Resilient supply and management of water in society
- Adapt society to flooding and drought
