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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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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 (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 Research Group INOWAS at TUD proposes the following research topic for a Masters’ student: Analysis of the effects of MAR on the local groundwater system through groundwater flow modelling of the Akrotiri MAR scheme, Cyprus Background Enhancing groundwater recharge by storing surplus water in the subsurface in times of high availability followed by recovery in times of high demand …
On behalf of the AGREEMAR consortium, the project partner Dr. Constantinos Panagiotou from the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence in Cyprus attended between 27-30 November 2022 the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Mediterranean Geosciences Union (MedGU-22) in Marrakech, Morocco. Dr. Constantinos Panagiotou from the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence in Cyprus attending the 2ndAnnual Meeting of the Mediterranean Geosciences Union in Marrakesh, …
We are happy to share some great news from Portugal: the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic has recently recommended the Government to encourage the development of projects and initiatives that contribute to the operationalisation of the managed aquifer recharge, as a complementary water resources management solution in the face of worsening drought scenarios, evaluating and safeguarding adequately any environmental impacts. The two …
After having successfully conducted needs assessment missions to Spain and Portugal in November, Tunisia was next on the list from 12-16 December 2022. The project team, consisting of INAT, TU Dresden and adelphi met with general (national), regional as well as local stakeholders and visited the demo sites in the Chiba basin on the Cap Bon Peninsula. Approach for the …
In the period 18-21 November 2022, AGREEMAR project partners LNEC and adelphi held bilateral meetings with key stakeholders of the project demo sites in Portugal including the regional office of the Portuguese Environmental Agency in Alentejo (APA), regional water utilities (EDIA and AgdA-AdP) and a farmer union (CAP). After the project was introduced in a stakeholder workshop in June, the …
On 3 November 2022, the UPV team of the AGREEMAR project organised a workshop with the main stakeholders of the Spanish demo region to discuss the possibilities and limitations of managed aquifer recharge (and conjunctive use of surface water, groundwater and non-conventional resources) in the Júcar Water District. During the following days, the colleagues from adelphi research gGmbH conducted bilateral …
Our AGREEMAR team is growing: Syrine Ghannem just joined as PhD student in the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering at the Technical University of Valencia (UPV). She graduated from the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia in 2020 with a BSc in Rural, Water and Forestry engineering majoring in Hydraulics and Rural Engineering. She obtained her MSc degree from the …
Site suitability maps are widely used to rank the potential of different regions for MAR implementation depending on a set of thematic criteria. A review of over 60 cases of MAR suitability mapping (Sallwey et al., 2018) revealed that most studies are focusing only on intrinsic indicators, for example soil type, land use, geology, widely neglecting other technical and non-technical considerations.Inclusion of …
On 12 October the AGREEMAR Cypriot partner Dr. Konstantinos Panagiotou met with representatives of Open University of Cyprus and discussed opportunities for collaboration within the framework of AGREEMAR project. The meeting with Assistant Professor Marinos Stylianou took place at the facilities of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science at the Open University of Cyprus in Nikosia and focused on …
Our project partner Konstantinos Panagiotou from the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence attended remotely the International Conference on “Integrated Groundwater Management of Mediterranean Coastal Aquifers”, from 27 to 30 September 2022. The conference was jointly organised by two other PRIMA projects, Sustain-COAST and MEDSAL and took place in Chania, on Crete island, Greece. The general scope and the research approach of …
