Water Matchmaker: smart tool for the non-compartmentalised matching of water supply and demand

To make our water system resilient to such wide-ranging issues as climate change, population growth and competition for freshwater sources by different users, we need to manage it differently. The water transition we need demands smart decisions about planning our country, with adequate supplies of clean water for everyone.

From implicit to concrete

The water sector will have to address the imbalance in freshwater allocation on a regional or even national scale. The Water Matchmaker project is developing a tool designed to provide a picture of the consequences of decisions made by different parties for the overall picture. Assumptions for possible solutions will no longer remain implicit and become concrete. This ensures that the approach will be objective and quantitative.

Tangible planning decisions as a basis for debate

The Water Matchmaker works like a computer application that allows users to analyse freshwater allocation in an area, including the infrastructure needed. The tool makes planning decisions for freshwater allocation in the Netherlands tangible by situating them it in a numerical system perspective for the first time, independently of the institutional boundaries present in this area. This provides a basis for informed debate involving all the different parties at the table. In this way, the Water Matchmaker helps us to establish shared principles that result in an optimal solution for everyone.

White Paper

Read the white paper on the Water Matchmaker here. The project is part of the Exploratory Research of Waterwijs, the drinking water sector’s collective research programme.