Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Long-term Europe-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Titre : INWAT : Quality and management of intermittent rivers and associated groundwaters in the Mediterranean basins

Pays/Région : Spain ; France ; Italy ; Jordan ; Tunisia ; Algeria

Date : Start date 2019-01-01 End date 2021-12-31

Identifiant : 162-INWAT
Type de projet : Development and innovation oriented (research) project

Objectif
The INWAT studies 6 Mediterranean basins : Riera de Llançà (Spain), Vidourle (France), Canale d’Aiedda (Italy), Amman Zarqa (Jordan), Wadi El Bey (Tunisia), Nil Wadi (Algeria). The INWAT project aims to study water quality and management of intermittent river and aquifers in Mediterranean basins.

The main objectives are :
* to develop innovative methods and tools for hydrological monitoring for intermittent rivers representing the widest possible diversity of management scenarios under water scarcity conditions, such as sea intrusion and groundwater recharge, groundwatewater quality issues (UNIBA, Univ-Jijel, UJ).
* to improve the knowledge about pollution sources (CERTE, CSIC and UM) and processes that naturally attenuate contamination by chemicals (UM, CSIC). This includes the standardization of analytical methods, the analysis of organic pollutants in wastewaters, rivers and aquifers and also the investigation of abiotic and biotic transformation processes in rivers, hyporheic zone and in aquifers.
* to develop novel methodologies for monitoring and assessing the ecological status of intermittent rivers (UDE). This addresses specifically the development and refinement of biological indicators and biomonitoring programs.
* to co-develop a decision-support system with stakeholders involved in water management (i.e. public water agencies, private operators of the sanitation and potabilization sectors) for the design of management actions to counteract the effects of global change in waterscarce regions (ICRA).

Présentation
Water scarcity in the Mediterranean (MED) region caused by both natural and anthropogenic factors leads to an increasing dominance of intermit-tent rivers and depleted aquifers. Water scarcity has a dramatic impact on ecosystem health, hydrology, river chemistry and those economic sectors that strongly rely on water availability such as agriculture and tourism (70% of available freshwater is used in irrigated agriculture). The worst-case scenario is encountered in the regions of south MED area, which are characterized by high spatial and temporal imbalances of water demand and supply, seasonal water uses, inadequate water resources and poor institutional water management. Therefore, in order to supply water to human settlements in arid or semi-arid countries the over-exploitation of water resources is common. Non-sustainable practices are globally wide-spread and manifest themselves in the over pumping of aquifers, seawater intrusion, river flows composed mainly by wastewater, and the salinization of irrigated soils.

Coordinateur : CSIC - Spanish National Research Council
Partenaires : Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) Water Researches and Technologies Center (CERTE) University of JIJEL University of Jordan Tekirdag Namik Kemal Üniversity University of Bari Aldo Moro University of Duisburg-Essen University of Montpellier

Financement principal : Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) (H2020)
Budget : 1 519 000 EUR

FNSSA project database