MARSOL

Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region are facing the challenge of managing its water resources under conditions of increasing scarcity and concerns about water quality. Already, the availability of fresh water in sufficient quality and quantity is one of the major factors limiting socio economic development. Innovative water management strategies such as the storage of reclaimed water or excess water from different sources in Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) schemes can greatly increase water availability and therefore improve water security. Main objective of the proposed project MARSOL is to demonstrate that MAR is a sound, safe and sustainable strategy that can be applied with great confidence and therefore offering a key approach for tackling water scarcity in Southern Europe.

For this, eight field sites were selected that will demonstrate the applicability of MAR using various water sources, ranging from treated wastewater to desalinated seawater, and a variety of technical solutions. Targets are the alleviation of the effect of climate change on water resources, the mitigation of droughts, to countermeasure temporal and spatial misfit of water availability, to sustain agricultural water supply and rural socio-economic development, to combat agricultural related pollutants, to sustain future urban and industrial water supply and to limit seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers.

Results of the demontration sites will be used to develop guidelines for MAR site selection, technical realization, monitoring strategies, and modeling approaches, to offer stakeholders a comprehensive, state of the art and proven toolbox for MAR implementation. Further, the economic and legal aspects of MAR will be analyzed to enable and accelerate market penetration. The MARSOL consortium combines the expertise of consultancies, water suppliers, research institutions, and public authorities, ensuring high practical relevance and market intimacy.

The expected impacts result from the development of following actions:

Define the more adequate methodologies to optimizing the best potential locations for MAR.

Catalogue existing infrastructure designs and improved solutions, and their adequacy for each typified situation (e.g., enabling increased development, combat environmental impacts such as marine intrusion and other water quality problems, and mitigate climate change impacts) demonstrating best approaches and innovative aspects through the DEMO sites.

Design a monitoring program approach, implementing low-cost devices, sensors, on-line transmission and other techniques targeted to control and optimize aquifer storage replenishment and ensure good recharged water quality.

Define an EU legal framework for MAR implementation, properly inserted in all other legal connected issues, as the genesis of successful effective water management, including designs, monitoring, codes of good practice and proper dissemination.

Ensure effective integration of the MAR DEMO sites into a Socio-Ecological System (SES), covering actions at the users community level, further down to the individual level where water users are involved in the creation of affordable domestic “water harvesting” with public participation and shared responsibility.

Promote international cooperation from MAR by means of principles of governance through social networks and collaborative platforms, with particular attention paid to developing countries.