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”.
The thesis submitted by Tiago aimed at developing and applying a methodological set of procedures for supporting the implementation of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in southern Portugal. The topic selected is of very high importance in the study area due to limited and highly variable rainfall, proneness to droughts and increased water demand for the agricultural and tourism sectors. The main outcome of the thesis consists of a series of maps depicting the overall geospatial feasibility of MAR in southern Portugal.
The methodology used for constructing the maps includes a wide span of hydrological computing techniques, including the estimation of surface water runoff with the aim of an in-house water-soil budget model, supported by updating the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number and by gaps-filling the available rainfall datasets. The calculated surface water availability, together with estimated water demand and intrinsic soil characteristics are the main thematic clusters further used in the GIS-based multi-criteria analysis for delineating the areas that are potentially feasible for MAR implementation.
The entire AGREEMAR team congratulates Tiago for his very important personal achievement and we thank him for his very important contributions to the project.
Very well done, Tiago!!!