Water stress is a global problem with far-reaching economic and social implications. The mitigation of water stress at regional scale depends not just on technological innovations, but also on the development of new integrated water management tools and decision-making practices. The AquaStress IP delivers enhanced interdisciplinary methodologies enabling actors at different levels of involvement and at different stages of the planning process to mitigate water stress problems. This IP draws on both academic and practitioner skills to generate knowledge in technological, operational management, policy, socio-economic, and environmental domains. Contributions come from 36 renowned organizations from 17 Countries, including 6 SMEs. The IP will generate scientific innovations to improve the understanding of water stress from an integrated multisectoral perspective to support:

• diagnosis and characterisation of sources and causes of water stress
• assessment of the effectiveness of water stress management measures and development of new tailored options
• development of supporting methods and tools to evaluate different mitigation options and their potential interactions
• development and dissemination of guidelines, protocols, and policies - development of a participatory process to implement solutions tailored to environmental, cultural, economic and institutional settings
• identification of barriers to policy mechanism implementation
• continuous involvement of citizens and institutions within a social learning process that promotes new forms of water culture and nurtures long-term change and social adaptivity.

The IP adopts a Case Study stakeholder driven approach and is organised in three phases; (i) characterisation of selected reference sites and relative water stress problems, (ii) collaborative identification of preferred solution options, (iii) testing of solutions according to stakeholder interests and expectations.