Mission – research focus

Water resources are high on the agendas of the United Nations (mainly SDG 6 and SDG 2) and the European Union (Water Framework, Groundwater, and Flood Directives), because they play a critical role in the two-way rela­tionship between human activities and the environment. Besides sustaining human life and the envi­ronment, water is needed in all economic activities, in which the competing and increasing demands (due to demographics and, perhaps, to climate change) are to be met by an uncertain resource. Water resources must be managed in terms of quantity and quality, in space (sources and demand may be spatially apart) and in time (varied temporal availability), while also protecting the society from hydrologic extremes (floods and droughts).

The mission of NOA’s HYDRO Group is 

• to support sustainable water resources management and ecosystem services, 

• to provide scientific guidance and engineering services on water resources management to national (public and private), EU and other international bodies, and 

• to inform the public at large on water issues. 

To achieve these mission goals, NOA’s HYDRO Group conducts basic and applied research in hydrological science and engineering comprising theoretical studies, model development and application, and field work; particularly, it operates a streamflow monitoring network, providing public data access. The group cooperates with other IERSD members, as well as with Greek and foreign scientists outside NOA. Research results are disseminated via publications in scientific journals and conferences, as well as via reports.