Water allocation and governance in multi-stakeholder environments: Insight from Axios Delta, Greece Leon Kapetas a , Nerantzis Kazakis a, ⁎, Konstantinos Voudouris a , Duncan McNicholl b a School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece b Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom HIGHLIGHTS • Egocentric network analysis evaluates stakeholder coordination in water man- agement. • Water allocation policies and practices informed through a DPSIR approach • Anticipatory drought mitigation plans more effective than drought manage- ment • Environmental flow co-valued in compet- itive multi-stakeholder environments GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 25 May 2019 Received in revised form 6 August 2019 Accepted 6 August 2019 Available online 10 August 2019 Editor: Damia Barcelo This article deals with stakeholders' interactions and institutional capacity influencing water resource manage- ment where competitive demands co-exist. For the case study area of Axios Delta, Northern Greece, a water def- icit in the agricultural sector, an unmet environmental flow and a reduced capacity for urban supply during drought conditions are observed. An egocentric network analysis based on desk-study and a series of semi- structured stakeholder interviews reveals how weak stakeholder ties lead to ineffective multilevel governance and, as a result, low water efficiency practices. There is a lack of understanding of other users' priorities as well as of the risks related to climate change and/or seasonal variability. This is reflected in the flat rate abstraction li- cence for agricultural purposes which reduces environmental flow to below acceptable standards. There is no transboundary cooperation between Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia which hinders an integrated management approach. A limited exchange of information to support an evidence-based allocation plan is ob- served. Suitable interventions identified through a DPSIR approach are evaluated in a multi-criteria analysis con- sidering cost effectiveness, delivered benefits as well as ease of implementation. Suitable technical practices include the development of a local and catchment-scale monitoring network for surface water and groundwater, climate-adaptive agriculture and treated-water reclamation. Updated management policies involve the institu- tional prioritisation of environmental flow through an adaptive allocation plan as well as the strengthening of transboundary cooperation. This research shows how the coordination of aggregated diverging interests in mul- tilevel multi-stakeholder environments appears to be key in supporting positive water budgets in an uncertain climate future. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Water allocation Institutional relationships Governance Egocentric network analysis Environmental flow DPSIR Science of the Total Environment 695 (2019) 133831 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: kazakis@geo.auth.gr (N. Kazakis). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133831 0048-9697/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv