Tijmen Schults – FutureWater

In November, the annual SPHY Community Session brought together users of the Spatial Processes in HYdrology (SPHY) model. The session provided a platform to share model developments, methodological advances, and applied case studies across different contexts.

The annual SPHY Community Session opened with updates on the new SPHY version 3.1 presented by Tijmen Schults. Dr. Johannes Hunink reflected on the history of SPHY and its use in research-based consultancy, after which Amelia Fernández Rodríguez introduced the new SPHY QGIS 3 plugin, demonstrating how SPHY is now embedded and accessible in the latest version of QGIS. Researchers and practitioners from various institutes then presented their work using SPHY in different contexts. Dr. Faiz Mohammed shared an agent-based socio-hydrology approach to support sustainable and equitable water management investments, while Dr. Joris Eekhout discussed how future changes in irrigation water supply and demand may affect water security in a Mediterranean catchment. Pranisha Pokhrel presented her application of SPHY in the Karnali River Basin in Nepal, and the session concluded with a presentation by Tijmen Schults on simulating spring discharge within the Roadside Spring Protection project in Nepal.

The session reflected the growing and diverse SPHY user community and the importance of continued exchange between research and practice. We thank all speakers and participants for their contributions and engagement, which support the further development of the SPHY model. A next SPHY Community Session will be held in November 2026.

ADB is committed to supporting its developing member countries in scaling up climate action. As part of this commitment, ADB is implementing TA 10098-REG: Bridging the Gap between Climate Adaptation Planning and Financing, also known as the Climate Adaptation Investment Planning (CAIP) TA. The CAIP TA aims to enhance the capacity of developing member countries (DMCs), to identify climate adaptation investment priorities to catalyze financing for adaptation and resilience. The TA delivers three outputs: (i) climate adaptation investment plans developed; (ii) appraisal of climate adaptation projects improved; and (iii) regional knowledge on climate adaptation investment planning strengthened.

The CAIP TA applies a five-step process for climate adaptation investment planning: (i) reviewing country and sector context, including national development plans and strategies, climate policies including the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), or equivalent adaptation plans; (ii) undertaking more granular climate diagnostic for selected national adaptation priorities; (iii) prioritizing adaptation investments; (iv) linking with public financial management systems; and (v) identifying appropriate financing opportunities. The CAIP TA brings together different relevant ministries, especially the finance and planning ministry, the respective sector ministry, and the environment ministry. In addition, the implementation process closely collaborates with relevant development partners active in the adaptation space in the country, the private sector, and civil society organizations.

FutureWater was engaged by ADB to develop the climate adaptation investment plans and underlying Climate Risk and Adaptation assessments (CRAs) for selected river basins in Lao PDR and Timor-Leste. Both the CRAs and the investment plans are approached from a multi-sector perspective and strongly adhere to IWRM principles. Water resources modelling (WEAP) is employed to relate water supply and demands in an integrated framework under different scenarios, in addition to extensive mapping of climate hazards, exposure and vulnerability across the study areas, making use of a combination of state-of-the-art global data and tools and locally-sourced information. The investment plans involve mapping and assessment of current and planned investments within the river basins, including nature-based solutions and green-gray infrastructure, followed by an identification of adaptation opportunities and subsequent prioritization. The results of the CAIP process for Lao PDR and Timor-Leste are expected to support the country’s national adaptation priorities into concrete, investment-ready plans and securing the necessary funding for their implementation.

We invite you to the SPHY Hydrological Model Webinar on 9 October 2025, from 10:00 to 11:00 CET. This event will showcase the latest developments in SPHY, including new tools, features, and workflows, and provide an interactive platform to ask your questions.

A New Era for SPHY

SPHY is undergoing a major transformation to become more powerful and user-friendly. Recent milestones include:

QGIS plugin: a redesigned interface that allows users to set up, run, and visualize SPHY entirely within QGIS.
SPHY version 3.1: new features such as bias correction for meteorological data, improved snowmelt routines, and more flexible simulation options.
New website and resources: updated manuals, tutorials, and datasets are now available at sphymodel.com.

These innovations make SPHY more accessible and relevant for a wide range of hydrological and water resources applications.

What to Expect at the Webinar

Tijmen Schults will introduce SPHY and its latest features.
Amelia Fernández Rodríguez will give a live demonstration of the new QGIS plugin.

This is the perfect opportunity to see SPHY in action and get direct input from the experts.

Who Should Attend

The webinar is open to hydrologists, water managers, GIS practitioners, researchers, students, and anyone interested in open-source hydrological modelling.

Practical Info & Registration

Date & Time: 9 October 2025, 10:00–11:00 CET
Format: Online webinar
Cost: Free
Register here

To further advance our hydrological model SPHY, we are proud to announce four major milestones for the SPHY modelling community. Since SPHY is widely used by FutureWater in capacity building programs, our goal has always been to make the model and its data as accessible and user-friendly as possible.

Until now, Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for SPHY were only available in QGIS for version 2.0. This project has upgraded those plugins to ensure full compatibility with the latest versions of SPHY, QGIS, and Python. The updated plugins also integrate new functionalities to handle cutting-edge data sources as model inputs. With these new QGIS plugins, running SPHY no longer requires programming skills—opening the door for a much broader audience to set up, run, and analyze hydrological simulations with ease.

1. Introducing the SPHY QGIS plugin

SPHY is now directly integrated into QGIS, allowing users to set up, run, and visualize SPHY simulations through an intuitive graphical interface. This plugin streamlines workflows, improves accessibility for new users, and enhances integration with geospatial datasets. Features include

Complete SPHY workflow integrated in QGIS
Streamlined preprocessing of model inputs
Intuitive, no-code interface
Results visualized directly in QGIS
Modular setup for diverse applications
Open-source and fully reproducible

2. New SPHY website

The new SPHY website offers easier navigation, updated documentation, and a central hub for resources, downloads, and training materials. Visit www.sphymodel.com to explore a fresh, modern platform for all SPHY matters.

3. SPHY model version 3.1 released

The latest SPHY release on Github introduces new features, performance improvements, and enhanced capabilities for hydrological and cryospheric modelling. This version builds on the robust foundations of previous releases, integrating feedback from the community and advancing the model’s flexibility and accuracy. It can be downloaded completely free and is open source. New in this version are:

Added bias-correction procedure for meteorological forcing
Increased flexibility and options for defining simulation periods
Enhanced snow melt calculation

4. Updated manuals, tutorials and datasets

Manuals of the new SPHY version and QGIS plugin are now available, as well as new datasets to make your model work. For the new QGIS plugin a video tutorial was made to explain all the ins and outs of the tool.

More to come soon!

These developments mark a significant step forward in making SPHY more accessible, powerful, and user-friendly for researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers worldwide. Soon we will organize a webinar to explain all the new features and later this year we plan on hosting a user day to discuss future model developments with the SPHY community.

Video

FutureWater, in collaboration with Utrecht University, has published Guidelines for Glacio-hydrological Modelling in High Mountain Asia. The guidelines report provides a structured approach for developing glacio-hydrological models in data-scarce mountain environments, building on both practical experience and scientific advances.

High Mountain Asia holds the world’s largest ice and snow reserves outside the polar regions and plays an important role as a water source for Asia’s major river systems, sustaining over a billion people. With changing glaciers and snow cover under global warming, water availability is shifting across seasons and risks of floods and droughts are intensifying. Understanding and modelling these dynamics is essential for managing future water resources. Focused on the Spatial Processes in Hydrology (SPHY) model, the guidelines presents best practices for model setup, calibration, and validation, offering stepwise procedures to support climate impact assessments and strengthen water resources management in glacier- and snow-dominated basins.

The guidelines were prepared as part of the project Development of a Glacio-Hydrological Model and Integrated Water Resources Management Plan for the Uttarakhand Subbasin, commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) under the Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation in Himalayas (SCA-Himalayas) program. Implemented between 2021 and 2023 by a consortium of FutureWater, Utrecht University, the University of Geneva, and the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India. The project used the Bhagirathi Basin in northern India as a case study to illustrate the modelling approach.

On June 25, we celebrated the successful closure of the RoSPro project with a national workshop held in Nepal. The event brought together key stakeholders to reflect on the project’s positive outcomes, including improved spring water access, road resilience, and community engagement in water management.

A key highlight of the project was the Decision Support System (DSS) developed by FutureWater. This system integrated hydrological (as an outcome of the SPHY hydrological model), geospatial, and socioeconomic data into a user-friendly platform, enabling data-driven decisions for sustainable water management. Moreover, the system provides a simple Cost&Benefit Calculator to assist stakeholders in evaluating the potential of proposed management measures for mountain springs.

The workshop underscored the potential for scaling up the approach in other regions, using the DSS to guide future spring protection and water resource management efforts. We look forward to continue this work in the future!

An open access version of the DSS is available here

FutureWater has launched WE-HARP, a new tool to support water permitting decisions in Mozambique. Developed under the Blue Deal program, the tool was introduced during a training with ARA-Sul and is designed to make the licensing procedure more data-driven.

In June 2025, Tijmen Schults visited ARA-Sul to support the development and roll-out of the tool. The initiative is part of the Blue Deal Mozambique program, which focuses on improving integrated water management across the region. The WE-HARP (WEAP-based Hydrological Assessment of water Resource Permitting) tool is Excel-based and offers a practical solution for evaluating permit requests. It was first set up and tested in the Umbeluzi River Basin, where it was linked to an existing water allocation model and the water user database, SIRHAS. The Umbeluzi River Basin is a transboundary basin that plays a critical role in agriculture and in supplying water to the Maputo Metropolitan Area.

A 2.5-day training was delivered to water professionals and technicians from ARA-Sul, the regional water authority of southern Mozambique. Participants were introduced to the tool and learned how to assess permit applications using hydrological indicators. The tool aims to support licensing decisions and reduce pressure on key water resources, such as the Pequenos Libombos Reservoir.

The European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly, held from April 28th to May 4th, 2025, at the Austria Centre Vienna, brought together scientists and researchers from around the globe. FutureWater was proud to be a part of this event, presenting its latest work under the SOS-water EU Horizon project, which aims to define the Safe Operating Space of water for European basins.

On Wednesday, April 30th, Tijmen Schults presented a breakthrough in snow water equivalent (SWE) downscaling. SWE, a critical parameter for hydrological modeling, measures the amount of meltable water in a snowpack. Tijmen introduced a new model that uses the machine learning algorithm XGBoost to downscale ERA5-Land SWE data to a higher resolution, significantly enhancing its accuracy.

Schults’ presentation, part of session HS2.1.1 – Snow and Glacier Hydrology, outlined the model’s setup and demonstrated its impressive performance. The presentation captured the attention of many researchers, sparking interest and discussions across the conference.

In early March 2025, the second phase of Water Accounting training under FAO’s Water Scarcity Program was held. The training focused on collecting and analyzing spatial data to build and simulate a water account. Participants from various governmental institutions worked with open-source datasets to compute seasonal water balances and assessed water availability and interventions in the Xe Champhone pilot basin.

A key component of the training was the use of Google Earth Engine (GEE), where participants learned how to extract and process remotely sensed precipitation, evapotranspiration, and land use data. These datasets were used to calculate the water accounting components, including inflows, outflows, demands, and unmet demands. In the program’s second half, participants were introduced to the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model, which simulates water balance and supply-demand dynamics in river basins and irrigation systems. Using a tutorial model for the Xe Champhone River Basin in Savannakhet Province, participants explored how to build and adjust scenarios to assess the potential impacts of future projections and policy or management interventions on water availability, demands, and supply. These exercises support participants in making informed, data-driven decisions.

Participants were strongly motivated to apply water accounting in their daily work, and many expressed interest in institutional follow-up. While the training exercises focused on the Xe Champhone basin, participants recognized the potential for applying water accounting approaches more broadly. This momentum can serve as a foundation for scaling up water efforts across the Lao PDR.

We are refining the tool WE-HARP: WEAP-based Hydrological Assessment for water Resource Permitting, which connects the permitting database with an interface for the assessment of new surface water licenses.

To ensure effective implementation of the new tool, FutureWater will maintain continuous engagement with ARA-Sul, providing technical support and collecting feedback through online sessions. This collaboration will help address challenges in system integration, troubleshoot issues, and refine functionalities. A significant component of this phase is the development of a comprehensive user manual and training materials, including PowerPoint slide decks, to guide ARA-Sul staff in effectively utilizing the tool for water licensing assessments. By embedding the tool within ARA-Sul’s operations, FutureWater aims to enhance decision-making capabilities and streamline the management of water resources in the region.