Several basins in Western Bohemia are regularly confronted with water scarcity problems during dry periods that have far-reaching impacts on stream ecology and the availability of drinking water for users. This paper presents a hydrological balance assessment of catchments in Western Bohemia for present and future conditions together with possible directions for climate change adaptation at the local scale. Assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological balance components using an ensemble of regional climate models revealed an increase in air temperature for all months during the year leading to an increase in evaporation. Along with changes in precipitation distribution during the year (increasing winter precipitation and decreasing summer precipitation), groundwater recharge and groundwater storage in general both decrease. Adaptation measures such as water transfers and the construction of water reservoirs are assessed with respect to the goal of increasing water availability in the Western Bohemia region during dry periods.

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The determination of minimum residual flow (MRF) follows diverse methodology in Europe due to differing hydrological conditions, ecosystem requirements, water abstraction requirements, and legislation. Methodologies in individual countries are difficult to compare qualitatively. However, individual approaches can serve as examples for countries undergoing the process of developing new methodologies, either for legislative purposes or to improve environmental standards on watercourses. This is exactly the situation in the Czech Republic which, has been working on the Regulation of the Government of the Czech Republic for ten years, since the amendment to the Water Act in 2010, defines the methods and criteria for determining the MRF on watercourses. T.G. Masaryk Water Research Institute, p.r.i., was commissioned to develop a new methodology to serve as the basis for the wording of aforementioned regulation. The new methodological approach took into account modern trends concerning the preservation of ecological standards, and used standard hydrological characteristics for its calculations. The newly proposed approach is undergoing a complicated approval process as the authors seek to increase the MRF compared to the current approach. The new approach assumes an MRF setting between Q97 and Q90. It defines four areas within the Czech Republic, by their hydrological and hydrogeological conditions, where the MRF is determined in different ways. This article describes the development of a new methodological approach, including the use the available Czech Hydrometeorological Institute data sets, the proposed regional division for MRF calculations, the determination the MRF below reservoirs, and the current state of the issue.

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