AGREEMAR – A PRIMA project: Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area

Water scarcity

Challenges

The availability of water resources in Mediterranean countries is characterized by uneven spatio-temporal distribution and is heavily affected by agricultural intensification, necessity to sustain the rapid population growth, and extensive tourism in coastal areas.

Sustainable aquifer-based solutions are needed to store water between seasons in order to fulfil optimal water provisions for food security, domestic supply and preservation of natural groundwater-dependent ecosystems.

Methodology

Our solution

AGREEMAR proposes an integrated and coordinated methodology to assess and map the feasibility of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in the Mediterranean basin and safeguard its success through the implementation of an adaptive governance framework. This will be achieved through:

Feasibility mapping

Development of a methodology for the selection of feasible locations for MAR application based on the integration of demand for groundwater-dependent services, conventional and non-conventional water sources, and intrinsic hydrogeological conditions.

Groundwater modelling

Validation of the feasibility maps through numerical models at watershed and local scale to assess the improvements in reliability, vulnerability and resilience provided by the inclusion of MAR schemes in water management schemes.

Governance systems

Development of a general participatory governance framework at regional level and implementation of co-created location-specific agreements for MAR benefits sharing endorsed by cross-sectoral stakeholder groups.

Stakeholders engagement

Implementation of a participative multi-actor approach for fostering the engagement of stakeholders from different societal sectors and actor groups in all stages of project development.

The AGREEMAR project

At a glance

The AGREEMAR project is funded by the National Funding Agencies from Germany, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain under the PRIMA program, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area.

Learn more about our project:

About the project

The AGREEMAR project will develop an adaptive governance framework integrated with a set of management tools that will assist water policy makers and water managers to reach sustainable water resources management.

Demonstration sites

The selected of four case studies in Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia will validate the proposed methodology and enable its integration into a larger context at the level of the entire Mediterranean basin and worldwide.

Work plan

The project includes six work packages distributed along 36 months, covering stakeholders’ engagement, MAR feasibility mapping, development of governance frameworks and agreements implementation, and project management.

Partners

AGREEMAR includes six partners: universities, public companies, and national research centres from Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal and Tunisia, together with stakeholders from four Mediterranean regional clusters.

Objectives

The aim of AGREEMAR is to optimize the hydrological balance in Mediterranean countries by developing governance models, management strategies, costs-benefits analyses, technical specifications and simulation tools.

PRIMA Program

The Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean (PRIMA) is funding projects that contribute to sustainable use of natural resources, economic growth and stability in the Mediterranean region.

Join our efforts to improve the methodology for MAR feasibility mapping!

Online survey

Focus regions

Demo sites

The project methodology will be demonstrated at four sites from Tunisia, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain. All regions selected are vulnerable to climate change effects and face intense groundwater exploitation for agriculture and tourism with significant declines of groundwater levels and seawater intrusion impacts.

Managed aquifer recharge

What is MAR?

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a nature-inspired solution that aims at intentionally recharging the aquifers with surface water for later use or environmental benefits. One of the main characteristics of MAR is that it provides for water storage in the subsurface in comparison with conventional storage in big surface reservoirs.

: The role of managed aquifer recharge in water resources management (Source: adapted from California Department of Water Resources)

What's new

Latest News

Master Class on stakeholders’ mapping together with NatMed, another PRIMA-funded project

Today 4 April 2025, we had the great privilege to be invited by another PRIMA-funded project entitled NatMed (Nature-based Solutions on existing infrastructures for resilient Water Management in the Mediterranean), to share our experiences on implementing the AGREEMAR project in the Mediterranean countries. Together with the organisers we selected the stakeholders mapping as potential relevant tool for the NatMed project …

Joint Master Class on Non-Conventional Water Use in the Mediterranean

On 20 March 2025, AGREEMAR joined two other PRIMA-funded projects, AG-WaMED and AGREEMed, in co-organising a Master Class on Non-Conventional Water Use in the Mediterranean. The event was organised by AG-WaMED coordinators as the third edition of this series. The Master Class was organised by Prof. Elena Bresci and Giulio Castelli from the AG-WaMED project and focused on exploring challenges …

Dr. Khaoula Khemiri as invited speaker to the series of IAHS-ARC online seminars

On 27 February 2025, Dr. Khaoula Khemiri from INAT, Tunisia, was invited as speaker to the series of online seminars initiated by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Africa Regional Committee, North Africa Chapter (IAHS-ARC). The talk of Khaoula Khemiri was entitled “Hydrological Insights from Machine Learning : Enhancing NDVI Prediction and Land Use Dynamics Assessment in Tunisian Semi-Arid Regions” …

Successful PhD defense of Tiago N. Martins from LNEC as part of AGREEMAR project

On 21 February 2025, the number of project members having a PhD title increased by one. Tiago N. Martins from LNEC, Portugal, successfully defended his thesis entitled “Decision making to support managed aquifer recharge – a study for southern Portugal”. Tiago N. Martins (third from the left) after his successful PhD defence on 21 February 2025 The thesis submitted by …

AGREEMAR represented at the Third Arab Land Conference in Rabat, Morocco

The Third Arab Land Conference took place in Rabat, Morocco, between 18-20 February 2025. The conference was organised by the Ministry of National Territory and Urban Planning, Housing, and City Policy in Morocco, UN-Habitat, GLTN, and the Arab Land Initiative, in partnership with the League of Arab States, UNESCWA, UNECA, the World Bank, BMZ, the Netherlands’ RVO, and Morocco land …

Civil assembly of AGREEMAR project in Tunisia for development of adapted MAR agreements

As part of the AGREEMAR Project, a stakeholder workshop was co-organised by adelphi and INAT teams and took place on January 29, 2025, at the Golden Tulip El Mechtel Hotel in Tunis, Tunisia. The purpose of this civil assembly was to engage stakeholders in exploring the potential of MAR systems for improving groundwater availability, mitigating climate change impacts, and supporting …

Training course on AQUATOOL DSS for water resources management in Tunisia

Within the framework of the AGREEMAR project, on Thursday, 30 January 2025, the Technical University of Valencia (UPV) and the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT) organised a training course on the AQUATOOL decision support system (DSS). This training aimed to enhance collaborative approaches to sustainable water resources management, considering the technical and socio-economic specificities of the mediterranean region. Training …

AGREEMAR presented at the 14th Portuguese Groundwater Seminar

Marcel Horovitz from LNEC presented the AGREEMAR project at the 14th Portuguese Groundwater Seminar, organised on 5-6 December 2024 by the Portuguese Water Resources Association in a technical presentations session, chaired by Tiago Martins (LNEC). This session addressed the topics of managed aquifer recharge (MAR), groundwater contamination, and numerical modelling. The event, held at Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon, served as …

AGREEMAR at the Young Water Professionals Conference in Spain, 29-31 October 2024

From October 29th to 31st, 2024, Syrine Ghannem and Rafael Bergillos from UPV attended the 4th IWA-YWP Spain National Conference held in Bilbao, Spain. The conference was organized by the Young Water Professionals Spain, in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Urban Water Management Companies (AGA-AEAS), the “CABB” Water Classroom of the School of Engineering of Bilbao (UPV/EHU), and the …

The concept of MAR agreements presented at the World Groundwater Congress IAH2024 in Davos, Switzerland

Catalin Stefan presenting the concept of MAR agreements at the World Groundwater Congress IAH2024 in Davos, Switzerland, 8-13 September 2024 Our project coordinator, Dr. Catalin Stefan Just returned from the World Groundwater Congress IAH2024 held this year in Davos, Switzerland. With 55 parallel sessions, over 1000 participants from more than 80 countries, 14 technical trips to different places in the Alps, tons of …

Adaptive agreements on benefits sharing for managed aquifer recharge in the Mediterranean region