Descrizione del progetto
Gestione sostenibile delle falde freatiche
Le acque freatiche sono la materia prima più estratta. L’aumento dell’incidenza di pompaggio delle acque freatiche e i conseguenti alti livelli di esaurimento delle falde acquifere rappresentano un serio problema. La riduzione delle falde acquifere a livello globale è insostenibile e prima o poi si ripercuoterà sulle generazioni future in termini di sicurezza alimentare. In tale contesto, il progetto GEOWAT, finanziato dal CER, tenterà di stabilire la quantità esistente di acque freatiche e la loro durata. In particolare, realizzerà il primo modello di falda freatica globale ad alta risoluzione con il supporto di una mappatura tridimensionale delle falde acquifere del pianeta. Saranno utilizzati strumenti di modellizzazione, abbinati a specifici casi di studio, per studiare il volume globale di acqua dolce di falda estraibile a livello fisico ed economico e, in questi termini, ne stabilirà il tempo di esaurimento sotto l’azione dei futuri pompaggi. L’obiettivo generale del progetto è fornire nuove conoscenze per un impiego sostenibile delle falde freatiche.
Obiettivo
Population growth and economic development have dramatically increased the demand for food and water. The resulting expansion of agriculture into areas with limited precipitation and surface water has greatly increased the reliance on groundwater irrigation. Further, urban groundwater use has risen exponentially to meet the ever-increasing population growth of mega-cities. These trends have resulted in a dramatic rise in groundwater pumping and associated high rates of aquifer depletion around the globe. The depletion of our world’s aquifers is unsustainable and will eventually impact the food security of future generations. Also, groundwater depletion results in severe environmental impacts such as land subsidence, groundwater salinisation, and damage to groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Despite decades of research on groundwater overuse, knowledge on attainable groundwater reserves and the critical time horizons of their depletion is completely lacking. In GEOWAT, I propose to take the giant leap to extractable volumes and depletion horizons by answering the obvious question that has been avoided thus far: How much groundwater is there and how long will it last? To this end, my research team will build the first high-resolution global groundwater model supported with a 3D-mapping of the world’s aquifers. We will use these unique modelling tools, in combination with dedicated case studies, to assess, for the first time, the global volume of physically and economically extractable fresh groundwater, and determine the time to physical and economic depletion under future pumping. We will also provide the first global assessment of the effects of groundwater pumping on groundwater-dependent ecosystems and explore pathways to sustainable groundwater use. As such, GEOWAT will provide critically-needed new knowledge to address one of most pressing challenges that mankind will face: how to sustainably manage the freshwater resources needed to survive on this planet?
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanets
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantIstituzione ospitante
3584 CS Utrecht
Paesi Bassi