Periodic Reporting for period 1 - JustWATER (JustWATER -- Water Decision Making tools for informed hydro politics in Italy)
Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-12-31
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
CONTEXT
Striking a balance between water supply and water demand is one of the greatest human challenges at the global level. In the last three decades, the intensification of surface and groundwater use has led to alarming levels of water depletion in major aquifers, threatening the survival of natural ecosystems around the world rivers.Intensified water use has been mainly caused by the increase in agricultural irrigation.
To quantify the water used to produce agricultural crops, a new concept was created: virtual water. Virtual water is the water embodied in commodities – agricultural and beyond – and represents all the water needed during the production process of commodities.
At the national level, agricultural imports embed virtual water imports and allow a nation to save national water resources while using up the water of the exporter country. Not all water is the same and not all virtual water is the same: some water is more vulnerable than others. Some water sources are renewable, while others are non-renewable. Some irrigation areas suffer localised water scarcity, pollution, over-pumping and other issues. Consequently, some virtual water flows are sustainable, while others are not. Their socio-economic impacts on the local communities of the exporting countries can vary greatly, especially where the production is mainly export-led, labour-intensive and subject to contract farming.
JustWater focuses on water-scarce areas and areas where groundwater is being depleted, because it is based on the data ( published in Nature in 2017 by Dalin et al.) that export-led irrigated agriculture relies on vulnerable groundwater in Italy. At the global level, Italy is the fifth net virtual water importer while also being the ninth largest virtual water exporter of depleted groundwater. In the European Union, Italy is the largest exporter of virtual water sourced from depleted groundwater6. This information, published in 2017 by Carol Dalin et. al. in Nature, has been largely ignored by the Italian literature on virtual water. JustWater takes Italy as a case-study to address this gap, given thathe case is highly relevant at the European level and pertinent with the EU New Growth Strategy, reinforcing the
EU Green Deal’s communication, in line with the EU Water Framework Directive. Finally,pertinence with UN SDG 5 on gender equality and with SDG on water is strong. The project is particularly timing: the sustainable use of water resources in European Mediterranean countries is currently challenged by climate change. Water extremes - droughts and floods - have already been occurring as a direct result of the increase in temperatures in the Mediterranean area, particularly in “climatic hot spots” as defined by the IPCC reports and discussed at the UN COP26. In Italy, an IPCC hot spot, the summer of 2022 has marked one of the most severe droughts of the last 20 years.
Italian literature on virtual water and water footprint has focused on the global and national levels, providing aggregated data by country and per major globally traded crops or data on aggregated by crop production.This literature has fallen short of connecting virtual water exports to the exact geographical location beyond the national level, thus neglecting the substantial differences that exist at the regional and sub-regional levels and in particular the existence of hotspots where vulnerable groundwater and water-scarce areas are involved. JustWater aims to clarify where depleted groundwater and surface water is involved in the Italian irrigation. By delivering GIS maps, graphic charts , the project allows a further socio-economic analysis of export-led crops. JustWater can help visualise where depleted groundwater and water-scarce areas suffer from the highest levels of water withdrawals. The publication of export-quantities by region in the future is further needed to quantify export-flows from each territory. Currently ISTAT, the Italian Institute of Statistics, provides this information only under the form of economic value in Euros and by aggregated crops ( cerals, fruits), thus impeding the final quantification of single-crop, envisaged in the grand vision of the virtual water geo-spatial analysis.
Having considered the limitation of the ISTAT dataset, the main objectives of the projects were:
1. building up regional and sub-regional specific GIS maps for the geo-location of a selection of agri-food production in Italy, irrigated with depleted groundwater and located in water-scarce areas
2. delivering a country-specific graphic chart: the project produced more than 600 graphic maps and charts related to irrigated crops of Italy
3. providing decision making tools for the formulation of socio-economic analysis of virtual water derived by the regional maps and charts ( more than 600) , to enable policy-orientated framework for a national strategy
4. exposing the Italian water community to the project results
5. exposing the Italian water community to its gender roles dynamics through a literatue review and a methodology based on the UNESCO sex-disaggregated indicators for water monitoring, assessment and reporting
6. expanding the professional skills of the researcher in the field of large dataset management and science production in the field of virtual water analysis, producing a bilateral transfer of knowledge with the University of Bergamo, and increasing her career opportunities and employability after a maternity career break. This was fully achieved, as the employability of the researcher was reached the month after the end of the project.
7. Innovating the discipline of virtual water by connecting the hard science of econometrics and physical geography: the researcher had the occasion to present novel theoretical discussion in international and national academic events where the geospatial turn of virtual water was presented as a way to connect the political ecology of water with critical hydropolitics theories (in particular, hydro-social theories with hydro-hegemony theories). The project produced outputs for reconnecting geo-spatial research with critical hydropolitics, political economy and political ecology (currently in publication procedures under the review process of the peer-reviewed journal “World Development”).
JustWater elaborated a novel framework and methodology for the promotion of water sustainability in the agri-food sectors, especially in drought-prone countries. Its three-pronged approach is based on the integration of GIS maps with destination charts and a socio-economic analysis and is replicable in other drought-prone countries. While other drought-prone countries – such as Egypt, Spain, California and Israel – have already included a virtual water strategy
in their national water plans to save on their national water resources, Italy has not yet done so. JustWater provided tools towards this goal. Its outcomes were foreseen to be of easy replicability to guide other drought-prone countries in the EU, such as Cyprus, Portugal and Greece. As a matter of fact in month 1 after the project conclusion, the JustWATER method is already being used by the researcher in her analysis of Morocco and Egypt in an EU-funded project under the PRIMA Foundation, called STAPLES.
Striking a balance between water supply and water demand is one of the greatest human challenges at the global level. In the last three decades, the intensification of surface and groundwater use has led to alarming levels of water depletion in major aquifers, threatening the survival of natural ecosystems around the world rivers.Intensified water use has been mainly caused by the increase in agricultural irrigation.
To quantify the water used to produce agricultural crops, a new concept was created: virtual water. Virtual water is the water embodied in commodities – agricultural and beyond – and represents all the water needed during the production process of commodities.
At the national level, agricultural imports embed virtual water imports and allow a nation to save national water resources while using up the water of the exporter country. Not all water is the same and not all virtual water is the same: some water is more vulnerable than others. Some water sources are renewable, while others are non-renewable. Some irrigation areas suffer localised water scarcity, pollution, over-pumping and other issues. Consequently, some virtual water flows are sustainable, while others are not. Their socio-economic impacts on the local communities of the exporting countries can vary greatly, especially where the production is mainly export-led, labour-intensive and subject to contract farming.
JustWater focuses on water-scarce areas and areas where groundwater is being depleted, because it is based on the data ( published in Nature in 2017 by Dalin et al.) that export-led irrigated agriculture relies on vulnerable groundwater in Italy. At the global level, Italy is the fifth net virtual water importer while also being the ninth largest virtual water exporter of depleted groundwater. In the European Union, Italy is the largest exporter of virtual water sourced from depleted groundwater6. This information, published in 2017 by Carol Dalin et. al. in Nature, has been largely ignored by the Italian literature on virtual water. JustWater takes Italy as a case-study to address this gap, given thathe case is highly relevant at the European level and pertinent with the EU New Growth Strategy, reinforcing the
EU Green Deal’s communication, in line with the EU Water Framework Directive. Finally,pertinence with UN SDG 5 on gender equality and with SDG on water is strong. The project is particularly timing: the sustainable use of water resources in European Mediterranean countries is currently challenged by climate change. Water extremes - droughts and floods - have already been occurring as a direct result of the increase in temperatures in the Mediterranean area, particularly in “climatic hot spots” as defined by the IPCC reports and discussed at the UN COP26. In Italy, an IPCC hot spot, the summer of 2022 has marked one of the most severe droughts of the last 20 years.
Italian literature on virtual water and water footprint has focused on the global and national levels, providing aggregated data by country and per major globally traded crops or data on aggregated by crop production.This literature has fallen short of connecting virtual water exports to the exact geographical location beyond the national level, thus neglecting the substantial differences that exist at the regional and sub-regional levels and in particular the existence of hotspots where vulnerable groundwater and water-scarce areas are involved. JustWater aims to clarify where depleted groundwater and surface water is involved in the Italian irrigation. By delivering GIS maps, graphic charts , the project allows a further socio-economic analysis of export-led crops. JustWater can help visualise where depleted groundwater and water-scarce areas suffer from the highest levels of water withdrawals. The publication of export-quantities by region in the future is further needed to quantify export-flows from each territory. Currently ISTAT, the Italian Institute of Statistics, provides this information only under the form of economic value in Euros and by aggregated crops ( cerals, fruits), thus impeding the final quantification of single-crop, envisaged in the grand vision of the virtual water geo-spatial analysis.
Having considered the limitation of the ISTAT dataset, the main objectives of the projects were:
1. building up regional and sub-regional specific GIS maps for the geo-location of a selection of agri-food production in Italy, irrigated with depleted groundwater and located in water-scarce areas
2. delivering a country-specific graphic chart: the project produced more than 600 graphic maps and charts related to irrigated crops of Italy
3. providing decision making tools for the formulation of socio-economic analysis of virtual water derived by the regional maps and charts ( more than 600) , to enable policy-orientated framework for a national strategy
4. exposing the Italian water community to the project results
5. exposing the Italian water community to its gender roles dynamics through a literatue review and a methodology based on the UNESCO sex-disaggregated indicators for water monitoring, assessment and reporting
6. expanding the professional skills of the researcher in the field of large dataset management and science production in the field of virtual water analysis, producing a bilateral transfer of knowledge with the University of Bergamo, and increasing her career opportunities and employability after a maternity career break. This was fully achieved, as the employability of the researcher was reached the month after the end of the project.
7. Innovating the discipline of virtual water by connecting the hard science of econometrics and physical geography: the researcher had the occasion to present novel theoretical discussion in international and national academic events where the geospatial turn of virtual water was presented as a way to connect the political ecology of water with critical hydropolitics theories (in particular, hydro-social theories with hydro-hegemony theories). The project produced outputs for reconnecting geo-spatial research with critical hydropolitics, political economy and political ecology (currently in publication procedures under the review process of the peer-reviewed journal “World Development”).
JustWater elaborated a novel framework and methodology for the promotion of water sustainability in the agri-food sectors, especially in drought-prone countries. Its three-pronged approach is based on the integration of GIS maps with destination charts and a socio-economic analysis and is replicable in other drought-prone countries. While other drought-prone countries – such as Egypt, Spain, California and Israel – have already included a virtual water strategy
in their national water plans to save on their national water resources, Italy has not yet done so. JustWater provided tools towards this goal. Its outcomes were foreseen to be of easy replicability to guide other drought-prone countries in the EU, such as Cyprus, Portugal and Greece. As a matter of fact in month 1 after the project conclusion, the JustWATER method is already being used by the researcher in her analysis of Morocco and Egypt in an EU-funded project under the PRIMA Foundation, called STAPLES.
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
ACTIVITIES PERFORMED
ACTIVITIES ON IRRIGATION AND WATER USE FOR CROP PRODUCTION IN ITALY
Literature review on groundwater bodies of Italy
Literature review on groundwater mapping
Literatura review of groudnwater vulnerbility
Literature review on Surface Water Bodies
Literature reivew on water and wetlands
Literature review on methodologies regarding water scarcity, water depletion, water balance
ACTIVITIES ON GENDER AND WATER IN ITALY
Literature review on women in the water sector in Italy and related legislative framework
Participation and formal accession of University of Bergamo to the UNESCO Global Coalition for the advancement of women in the water sector
METHODOLOGICAL WORK
Choice of methodological patterns in order to identify whether irrigation in Italy is / is not depleting national water bodies
Choice of methodological positionament regarding Political Ecology / Critical Water Geography / Critical Hydropolitics, Virtual water Studies
Acquisition of water related theoretical instruments for the analysis of the Italian case at the intersection of political ecology, water geography, development studies and Geo Spatial analysis
Conversion of NetCDF files into Jpeg and image files for a more intellegible and divulgative audience
Creation and design of an original dataset on crop production and water bodies vulnerability for Italy, available open source called "JustWATER"
Acquisition of open-source dataset from
-- UNESCO IHP / BGR dataset on groundwater bodies ( worldwide)
-- COPERNICUS dataset on water & wetness,
-- Water Footprint network / Twente University dataset Water Footprint Network Dataset @ UTwente https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-923-2022(opens in new window)
solely on Italian irrigation (opens in new window)
Copernicus High Resolution Water & Wetness Layer
WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas
HydroSHEDS HydroRIVERS Dataset
HydroShare Water Resources Dataset
Aqueduct 4.0 GitHub Repository
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS
Production and open-source publication of a geo-spatial original dataset on crop production and water bodies of " priority interest" for Italy, available for the academic and general public
Production of publications on books , peer reviewed journals and open access repository.
1.2.1 Work Package 1
WP1: Management
Main Objectives: To ensure the implementation of the project and its day-to-day management.
Description of tasks
Task 1.1 Day-to-day Management.
The researcher and the supervisor have been conducting regular meetings with an initial interval of weekly meetings, which became monthly meetings in the last 3 months of the project, due to the conclusions of the main outputs and to the presence and prevalence of communication and dissemination activities in these last months.
Task 1.2 Project Reporting was performed in due time
Task 1.3 Review progress against deliverables and milestones: the Supervisor has been reviewing the progress of the project against its deliverables and took corrective action during the sick leave of the researcher. Reports to the supervisor were more than 4 and more frequently handled, via
Project: [10117324] — [JustWATER] — [HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022]
EU Grants: Periodic report/Additional prefinancing report/Beneficiary termination report (HE): V1.1 – 01.05.2023
email and in person after each supervision meeting, which went from 1 week to 1 month of frequency, exceeding the frequency of the progress reporting required by the project.
Deliverables : 4 Progress reports delivered.
1.2.2 Work Package 2
WP2: Research and production
Main Objectives: The construct a theoretical and analytical framework was carried out and consolitaded with multiple public presentation in several academic institutions in Italy, UK and the Netherlands.
Regarding the creation of a set of information and policy tools, to involve the Italian water community of experts using gender transformative tecniques and to use findings to prepare scientific publications, this was achieved and enacted during the final workshop held in November 2025 in Bergamo, where representatives of the National Governments, Regional Governments , NGOs and practitioners were involved and exposed to the results of the project.
Description of tasks
Task 2.1 Survey of Literature
The literature on hydropolitics in Italy was performed and exposed at the University of Bath under the form of a Seminar provided to the Department of Geography of SPA , University of Bath, UK.( see communication and dissemination report).
Task 2.2 Desk-based data collection and acquisition of virtual water datasets of Italy and maps, sex disaggregated data on agriculture and water.
The virtual water ( in particular, water footprint blue and water footprint green) of irrigated crops in Italy and non-irrigated crops in Italy has been performed also through several exchanges with Twente University ( Dr Oleksander Mialyk).
Task 2.3 Production of GIS map 1 of vulnerable aquifers used for virtual water exports
The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced.
Task 2.4 Production of GIS map 2 of water-scarce areas used for virtual water exports
The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced.
Task 2.5 Production of GIS map 3 of “bad virtual water” of Italy (it takes shorter time because it is an overlap of map 1 and map 2). The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced.
Task 2.6 Production of the graphic chart. The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced. In particular, regarding charts, blue and green water by region has been produced for all the 20 regions of Italy and time series of each crop ( 24 main crops per region) have been selected and produced. The selection of the man 24 crops per region has been conducted thanks to the “heat maps” of crop production per each region ( also available in the repository).
Task 2.7 Production of the analysis of socio-economic and environmental aspects
The main theoretical outputs for the analysis of the socio-economic and environmental aspects have been produced in the proposal of “Water Subaltern / Water Subalternities” theory and presented at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Socio-economic and environmental tools for the analysis of geo-spatial virtual water and water footprint analysis have been included in the final publication for the journal “World Development”.
Project: [10117324] — [JustWATER] — [HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022]
EU Grants: Periodic report/Additional prefinancing report/Beneficiary termination report (HE): V1.1 – 01.05.2023
Task 2.8 Writing
Task 2.9 Publication of peer reviewed articles
-
1 chapter in book regarding women in the water sector of water diplomacy
-
1 peer reviewed article ( under review at “World Development”)
-
1 UNESCO publication in the open repository of UNESCO peer reviewed articles about women in the water sector in Italy
-
1 dataset open source in ZENODO and GITHUB
have been produced during the project.
Task 2.10 Workshop with water experts:
Many workshops and seminars have been performed during the project; this is a selection:
Between October 2023 and November 2025, the researcher participated in and organized a wide range of academic and policy-oriented events at national and international level, both online and in person, as an invited speaker, presenter, trainer, keynote speaker, and organizer. In October 2023, she was invited to speak at a bicommunal workshop in Cyprus on water, energy, waste management, climate change, and conflict resolution, where she presented research on perceptions of water in occupied and post-conflict areas of the island. The event was held under the auspices of multiple peace and EU-related institutions and brought together Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot experts and activists.
In January 2024, she delivered an invited seminar on hydropolitics in Italy to PhD and Master’s students at the University of Bath. In the same year, she presented the JustWATER project at a cross-departmental sustainability event at the University of Bergamo and participated as an invited speaker in several major international conferences. These included the World Water Forum in Bali, where she spoke at a UNESCO panel on gender and water and presented research on women in the Italian water sector, and the World Water Day 2024 conference, where she contributed to a webinar on water security and peace with a presentation on virtual water in international political economy.
In June 2024, she provided expert training at the IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft, teaching water professionals from Central Asia on gender, water diplomacy, and climate resilience within an Erasmus+ programme. She also presented the JustWATER project to Italian geographers at the annual meeting of the Società di Studi Geografici and participated in the Royal Geographical Society’s annual conference in London with a paper on virtual water hegemony. In September 2024, she delivered an opening plenary keynote and panel presentation at the 1st International Congress of Gastronomic Sciences, focusing on virtual water in food trade and the role of groundwater in irrigation.
Finally, in November 2025, she co-organized an international workshop on hydropolitics in Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean, aimed at academics, practitioners, policymakers, NGOs, and journalists, consolidating the project’s outcomes and fostering interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral dialogue
Deliverables 3 GIS maps, 1 chart (D 2.1. D 2.2 D2.3 D.2.4 );socio-economic analysis is under the form of delivered presentations regarding theoretical tools and methodology of the research, policy impact and data analysis are online (D.2.5); Workshop reports and conclusions are drafted (D 2.6); two peer-reviewed articles have been submitted and expected to be published in 2026 , one has been accepted for publication by UNESCO, the other is still under final submission after having been reviewed by 2 reviewers ( World Development) (D 2.7 D. 2.8)
Milestones M2.1: Data collected are consolidated; M2.2: the 3 GIS maps+1 graphic chart are online; M2.3 workshop is carried out
All the deliverables and the milestones of WP2 have been met.
1.2.3 Work Package 3
WP3: Training
Main Objectives: To provide transfer of knowledge and the training of the researcher at several levels and through a diverse range of activities.
Description of tasks Task 3.1 Transfer of knowledge through interactions at Departmental level
At the department level the researcher presented a seminar level ( initial stage of the research, intermediate stage of the research and final stage of the research in the occasion of the workshop, hosted by the department itself). Regarding the interaction between the researcher and the department:
◼
The researcher took part in the Project Work of GeoUrbanistic course presenting and interacting with 40 studenrts
◼
The researcher took part in different Erasmus+ workshops organized by the department
◼
The researcher involved the Italian celebrity theatre actor and film director Marco Paolini in the subsequent closed-door workshop for the students of the same Project Work, in close cooperation with the professors Burini Ghisalberti Tononi Menga and Morosini, creating a unique event during which the students engaged in civil theatre and the actor had the opportunity to learn from the students and the professors the main features of 4 important rivers in the region. This has opened avenues for further research cooperation between the department and the actor, who is currently developing a project on River Banks Of Italy
◼
The Researcher supported the Public Engagement event of the Department , creating the opportunity for the public screen of the Documentari Movie “Mar del Molada” ( directe by Marco Paolini, on the history of the river Tagliamento) thanks to the availability and active role of her supervisor and one of the department professor ( professor Burini) who , in her capacity as delegate of the Rector in the field of public engagement, made it possible for the citizens of Bergamo to attend for free ( the Aula Magna of the University of Bergamo was sold out on the first day of the availability of the free tickets, marking a great success for the department). Link here
Task 3.2 Training-through-research/learning-by-doing:
This specific training was provided by my supervisor prof Menga in terms of orientation in publication strategies and communication plan. Secondly, a fruitful example of learning by doing was the personal training I received from the Water Footprint Network: regarding their new 2024 dataset release, I was provided with the main contact of the main author of the dataset itself ( Oleksander Mialyk ) who took the time to explain various details of the new and improved dataset, including , for example, the capillary interaction of plant roots with aquifers and water sources , including some details regarding the functioning of the soil moisture.
Task 3.3 Tailored academic training through the RDF Task
The researcher took advantage of the presence of GIS course in the department and enrolled in person in order to acquire basic and advanced GIS techniques
The researcher took advantage of the presence of Training Course provide by the Resarch Office regarding:
-- library and publication strategy
-- access , information and proposal writing of HORIZON offer , including ERC
-- access to a personal consultant , provided by the Resaerch Office, for the development of her personal ERC candidature for a ERC Starting Grant
3.4 Software training
Project: [10117324] — [JustWATER] — [HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022]
EU Grants: Periodic report/Additional prefinancing report/Beneficiary termination report (HE): V1.1 – 01.05.2023
Achievement of R software proficiency (D3.5) was changed ( with the approval of prof Menga) into advanced knowledge of GIS and basic knowledge of the software “Python” in order to understand the basics of GEO Python elaboration.
Milestones M 3.1 Certificate of attendance of training course in R; end of academic training achieved ( M3.2).
This was changed to attendance of “introduction to Geo Python” without certificate of attendance. Unfortunately the Geo Python course was not available in the list of training provided by the University of Bergamo and the researcher had to search for an external provider which did not release a certificate for the attendance but this was not incurring in any additional cost for the project budget.
1.2.4 Work Package 4
WP4: Communication,Dissemination, Exploitation
Main Objectives of disseminating the research results to the research community and to the public rapidly and in easily reachable outlets, making outputs usable for end users and exploitable for other purposes were all reached sufficiently and successfully.
Description of tasks Task 4.1
Create and launch :JustWater webpage, virtualwater.it webpage and “womeninwaterItaly” webpage were duly performed. While the JustWATER website is a finite website with the showcase of the results and the activities of the project, the “virtual water” and “women in water” websites are , respectively an educational and networking website, which will be populated by the researcher along her future career, establishing and filling two different gaps that were existing in Italy ( a dedicated website to virtual water in Italy, a dedicated website to women in the water sector of Italy).
Task 4.2 Participate to conferences, educational events in schools, ac
khaton, short lectures.
These tasks have been listed in the Communication and Dissemination Plan ; in order to avoid duplicates, for the sake of this technical report it is worth mentioning the participation to an hackhaton at the University of Bergamo, the presence in Nationanl and local Press and Media, short lectures and various podcasts ( links here, here and here) , radio and TV interviews at the National Italian Broadcasting Company ( RAI 1, here ) and the Swiss National Italian Radio ( here)
I also contributed to the “Video Dictionary of Herigate and Climate change” ( part of WRENCH project) at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona ( link here)
The complete list of communication , outreach and dissemination activities are all available here: https://linktr.ee/francescagreco78(opens in new window) and in the official report of Communication and Dissemination Activities of this project.
Task 4.3 Publish articles for the general and specialised public and a policy paper
Eco di Bergamo ( local newspaper in Bergamo , but with a large national diffusion) granted me a long-form interview ( link here).
A small book about how virtual water and water footprint analysis can spot greenwashing in the water sector ( which the researcher called “bluewashing”) was published in September 2025 , in Italian, for the non specialized public, under the name of “In Difesa dell'acqua. Il Bluewashing e l'inganno della sostenibilità idrica”, Intermezzi Editore. Available here.
Task 4.4 Public engagement (media interviews, presence in civil society, schools, NGOs; Instagram and Twitter outreach.
The researcher participated in the Bergamo Food Policy initiative giving a presentation in a social-center of the city of Bergamo, presented at the Slow Food young activist meeting, gave lectures at Lyons’ Club online meeting. The researcher disengaged from Twitter ( X) for personal political reasons, stopping the frequency of her publications on this media in the last 2 years.All social media interactions on Instagram are available here https://linktr.ee/francescagreco78(opens in new window) and here, on the researcher personal Instagram webpage at this link here.
CONCLUSION:
Deliverables : (D 4.1) Delivearble 4.1 “Attendance of conferences” was performed successfully;
(D 4.2); Deliverable “Articles for the general and specialised public and a policy paper Interviews” was performed successfully
(D 4.3); Deliverable of “Webpage” was completed successfully
(D 4.4); Deliverable: “Schools and civil society engagement “ was completed successfully
(D 4.5). Deliverable 4.5 “Interopearability of website data , end user configuration and free access of dataset is achieved” ( see Zenodo and GitHub Repository)
Milestones M4.1 was reached. ( interopearability of website data , end user configuration and free access of dataset is achieved)
ACTIVITIES ON IRRIGATION AND WATER USE FOR CROP PRODUCTION IN ITALY
Literature review on groundwater bodies of Italy
Literature review on groundwater mapping
Literatura review of groudnwater vulnerbility
Literature review on Surface Water Bodies
Literature reivew on water and wetlands
Literature review on methodologies regarding water scarcity, water depletion, water balance
ACTIVITIES ON GENDER AND WATER IN ITALY
Literature review on women in the water sector in Italy and related legislative framework
Participation and formal accession of University of Bergamo to the UNESCO Global Coalition for the advancement of women in the water sector
METHODOLOGICAL WORK
Choice of methodological patterns in order to identify whether irrigation in Italy is / is not depleting national water bodies
Choice of methodological positionament regarding Political Ecology / Critical Water Geography / Critical Hydropolitics, Virtual water Studies
Acquisition of water related theoretical instruments for the analysis of the Italian case at the intersection of political ecology, water geography, development studies and Geo Spatial analysis
Conversion of NetCDF files into Jpeg and image files for a more intellegible and divulgative audience
Creation and design of an original dataset on crop production and water bodies vulnerability for Italy, available open source called "JustWATER"
Acquisition of open-source dataset from
-- UNESCO IHP / BGR dataset on groundwater bodies ( worldwide)
-- COPERNICUS dataset on water & wetness,
-- Water Footprint network / Twente University dataset Water Footprint Network Dataset @ UTwente https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-923-2022(opens in new window)
solely on Italian irrigation (opens in new window)
Copernicus High Resolution Water & Wetness Layer
WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas
HydroSHEDS HydroRIVERS Dataset
HydroShare Water Resources Dataset
Aqueduct 4.0 GitHub Repository
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS
Production and open-source publication of a geo-spatial original dataset on crop production and water bodies of " priority interest" for Italy, available for the academic and general public
Production of publications on books , peer reviewed journals and open access repository.
1.2.1 Work Package 1
WP1: Management
Main Objectives: To ensure the implementation of the project and its day-to-day management.
Description of tasks
Task 1.1 Day-to-day Management.
The researcher and the supervisor have been conducting regular meetings with an initial interval of weekly meetings, which became monthly meetings in the last 3 months of the project, due to the conclusions of the main outputs and to the presence and prevalence of communication and dissemination activities in these last months.
Task 1.2 Project Reporting was performed in due time
Task 1.3 Review progress against deliverables and milestones: the Supervisor has been reviewing the progress of the project against its deliverables and took corrective action during the sick leave of the researcher. Reports to the supervisor were more than 4 and more frequently handled, via
Project: [10117324] — [JustWATER] — [HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022]
EU Grants: Periodic report/Additional prefinancing report/Beneficiary termination report (HE): V1.1 – 01.05.2023
email and in person after each supervision meeting, which went from 1 week to 1 month of frequency, exceeding the frequency of the progress reporting required by the project.
Deliverables : 4 Progress reports delivered.
1.2.2 Work Package 2
WP2: Research and production
Main Objectives: The construct a theoretical and analytical framework was carried out and consolitaded with multiple public presentation in several academic institutions in Italy, UK and the Netherlands.
Regarding the creation of a set of information and policy tools, to involve the Italian water community of experts using gender transformative tecniques and to use findings to prepare scientific publications, this was achieved and enacted during the final workshop held in November 2025 in Bergamo, where representatives of the National Governments, Regional Governments , NGOs and practitioners were involved and exposed to the results of the project.
Description of tasks
Task 2.1 Survey of Literature
The literature on hydropolitics in Italy was performed and exposed at the University of Bath under the form of a Seminar provided to the Department of Geography of SPA , University of Bath, UK.( see communication and dissemination report).
Task 2.2 Desk-based data collection and acquisition of virtual water datasets of Italy and maps, sex disaggregated data on agriculture and water.
The virtual water ( in particular, water footprint blue and water footprint green) of irrigated crops in Italy and non-irrigated crops in Italy has been performed also through several exchanges with Twente University ( Dr Oleksander Mialyk).
Task 2.3 Production of GIS map 1 of vulnerable aquifers used for virtual water exports
The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced.
Task 2.4 Production of GIS map 2 of water-scarce areas used for virtual water exports
The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced.
Task 2.5 Production of GIS map 3 of “bad virtual water” of Italy (it takes shorter time because it is an overlap of map 1 and map 2). The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced.
Task 2.6 Production of the graphic chart. The maps have been produced and are available in the official GITHUB and ZENODO repository. More than 600 maps and charts have been produced. In particular, regarding charts, blue and green water by region has been produced for all the 20 regions of Italy and time series of each crop ( 24 main crops per region) have been selected and produced. The selection of the man 24 crops per region has been conducted thanks to the “heat maps” of crop production per each region ( also available in the repository).
Task 2.7 Production of the analysis of socio-economic and environmental aspects
The main theoretical outputs for the analysis of the socio-economic and environmental aspects have been produced in the proposal of “Water Subaltern / Water Subalternities” theory and presented at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Socio-economic and environmental tools for the analysis of geo-spatial virtual water and water footprint analysis have been included in the final publication for the journal “World Development”.
Project: [10117324] — [JustWATER] — [HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022]
EU Grants: Periodic report/Additional prefinancing report/Beneficiary termination report (HE): V1.1 – 01.05.2023
Task 2.8 Writing
Task 2.9 Publication of peer reviewed articles
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1 chapter in book regarding women in the water sector of water diplomacy
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1 peer reviewed article ( under review at “World Development”)
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1 UNESCO publication in the open repository of UNESCO peer reviewed articles about women in the water sector in Italy
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1 dataset open source in ZENODO and GITHUB
have been produced during the project.
Task 2.10 Workshop with water experts:
Many workshops and seminars have been performed during the project; this is a selection:
Between October 2023 and November 2025, the researcher participated in and organized a wide range of academic and policy-oriented events at national and international level, both online and in person, as an invited speaker, presenter, trainer, keynote speaker, and organizer. In October 2023, she was invited to speak at a bicommunal workshop in Cyprus on water, energy, waste management, climate change, and conflict resolution, where she presented research on perceptions of water in occupied and post-conflict areas of the island. The event was held under the auspices of multiple peace and EU-related institutions and brought together Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot experts and activists.
In January 2024, she delivered an invited seminar on hydropolitics in Italy to PhD and Master’s students at the University of Bath. In the same year, she presented the JustWATER project at a cross-departmental sustainability event at the University of Bergamo and participated as an invited speaker in several major international conferences. These included the World Water Forum in Bali, where she spoke at a UNESCO panel on gender and water and presented research on women in the Italian water sector, and the World Water Day 2024 conference, where she contributed to a webinar on water security and peace with a presentation on virtual water in international political economy.
In June 2024, she provided expert training at the IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft, teaching water professionals from Central Asia on gender, water diplomacy, and climate resilience within an Erasmus+ programme. She also presented the JustWATER project to Italian geographers at the annual meeting of the Società di Studi Geografici and participated in the Royal Geographical Society’s annual conference in London with a paper on virtual water hegemony. In September 2024, she delivered an opening plenary keynote and panel presentation at the 1st International Congress of Gastronomic Sciences, focusing on virtual water in food trade and the role of groundwater in irrigation.
Finally, in November 2025, she co-organized an international workshop on hydropolitics in Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean, aimed at academics, practitioners, policymakers, NGOs, and journalists, consolidating the project’s outcomes and fostering interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral dialogue
Deliverables 3 GIS maps, 1 chart (D 2.1. D 2.2 D2.3 D.2.4 );socio-economic analysis is under the form of delivered presentations regarding theoretical tools and methodology of the research, policy impact and data analysis are online (D.2.5); Workshop reports and conclusions are drafted (D 2.6); two peer-reviewed articles have been submitted and expected to be published in 2026 , one has been accepted for publication by UNESCO, the other is still under final submission after having been reviewed by 2 reviewers ( World Development) (D 2.7 D. 2.8)
Milestones M2.1: Data collected are consolidated; M2.2: the 3 GIS maps+1 graphic chart are online; M2.3 workshop is carried out
All the deliverables and the milestones of WP2 have been met.
1.2.3 Work Package 3
WP3: Training
Main Objectives: To provide transfer of knowledge and the training of the researcher at several levels and through a diverse range of activities.
Description of tasks Task 3.1 Transfer of knowledge through interactions at Departmental level
At the department level the researcher presented a seminar level ( initial stage of the research, intermediate stage of the research and final stage of the research in the occasion of the workshop, hosted by the department itself). Regarding the interaction between the researcher and the department:
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The researcher took part in the Project Work of GeoUrbanistic course presenting and interacting with 40 studenrts
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The researcher took part in different Erasmus+ workshops organized by the department
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The researcher involved the Italian celebrity theatre actor and film director Marco Paolini in the subsequent closed-door workshop for the students of the same Project Work, in close cooperation with the professors Burini Ghisalberti Tononi Menga and Morosini, creating a unique event during which the students engaged in civil theatre and the actor had the opportunity to learn from the students and the professors the main features of 4 important rivers in the region. This has opened avenues for further research cooperation between the department and the actor, who is currently developing a project on River Banks Of Italy
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The Researcher supported the Public Engagement event of the Department , creating the opportunity for the public screen of the Documentari Movie “Mar del Molada” ( directe by Marco Paolini, on the history of the river Tagliamento) thanks to the availability and active role of her supervisor and one of the department professor ( professor Burini) who , in her capacity as delegate of the Rector in the field of public engagement, made it possible for the citizens of Bergamo to attend for free ( the Aula Magna of the University of Bergamo was sold out on the first day of the availability of the free tickets, marking a great success for the department). Link here
Task 3.2 Training-through-research/learning-by-doing:
This specific training was provided by my supervisor prof Menga in terms of orientation in publication strategies and communication plan. Secondly, a fruitful example of learning by doing was the personal training I received from the Water Footprint Network: regarding their new 2024 dataset release, I was provided with the main contact of the main author of the dataset itself ( Oleksander Mialyk ) who took the time to explain various details of the new and improved dataset, including , for example, the capillary interaction of plant roots with aquifers and water sources , including some details regarding the functioning of the soil moisture.
Task 3.3 Tailored academic training through the RDF Task
The researcher took advantage of the presence of GIS course in the department and enrolled in person in order to acquire basic and advanced GIS techniques
The researcher took advantage of the presence of Training Course provide by the Resarch Office regarding:
-- library and publication strategy
-- access , information and proposal writing of HORIZON offer , including ERC
-- access to a personal consultant , provided by the Resaerch Office, for the development of her personal ERC candidature for a ERC Starting Grant
3.4 Software training
Project: [10117324] — [JustWATER] — [HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022]
EU Grants: Periodic report/Additional prefinancing report/Beneficiary termination report (HE): V1.1 – 01.05.2023
Achievement of R software proficiency (D3.5) was changed ( with the approval of prof Menga) into advanced knowledge of GIS and basic knowledge of the software “Python” in order to understand the basics of GEO Python elaboration.
Milestones M 3.1 Certificate of attendance of training course in R; end of academic training achieved ( M3.2).
This was changed to attendance of “introduction to Geo Python” without certificate of attendance. Unfortunately the Geo Python course was not available in the list of training provided by the University of Bergamo and the researcher had to search for an external provider which did not release a certificate for the attendance but this was not incurring in any additional cost for the project budget.
1.2.4 Work Package 4
WP4: Communication,Dissemination, Exploitation
Main Objectives of disseminating the research results to the research community and to the public rapidly and in easily reachable outlets, making outputs usable for end users and exploitable for other purposes were all reached sufficiently and successfully.
Description of tasks Task 4.1
Create and launch :JustWater webpage, virtualwater.it webpage and “womeninwaterItaly” webpage were duly performed. While the JustWATER website is a finite website with the showcase of the results and the activities of the project, the “virtual water” and “women in water” websites are , respectively an educational and networking website, which will be populated by the researcher along her future career, establishing and filling two different gaps that were existing in Italy ( a dedicated website to virtual water in Italy, a dedicated website to women in the water sector of Italy).
Task 4.2 Participate to conferences, educational events in schools, ac
khaton, short lectures.
These tasks have been listed in the Communication and Dissemination Plan ; in order to avoid duplicates, for the sake of this technical report it is worth mentioning the participation to an hackhaton at the University of Bergamo, the presence in Nationanl and local Press and Media, short lectures and various podcasts ( links here, here and here) , radio and TV interviews at the National Italian Broadcasting Company ( RAI 1, here ) and the Swiss National Italian Radio ( here)
I also contributed to the “Video Dictionary of Herigate and Climate change” ( part of WRENCH project) at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona ( link here)
The complete list of communication , outreach and dissemination activities are all available here: https://linktr.ee/francescagreco78(opens in new window) and in the official report of Communication and Dissemination Activities of this project.
Task 4.3 Publish articles for the general and specialised public and a policy paper
Eco di Bergamo ( local newspaper in Bergamo , but with a large national diffusion) granted me a long-form interview ( link here).
A small book about how virtual water and water footprint analysis can spot greenwashing in the water sector ( which the researcher called “bluewashing”) was published in September 2025 , in Italian, for the non specialized public, under the name of “In Difesa dell'acqua. Il Bluewashing e l'inganno della sostenibilità idrica”, Intermezzi Editore. Available here.
Task 4.4 Public engagement (media interviews, presence in civil society, schools, NGOs; Instagram and Twitter outreach.
The researcher participated in the Bergamo Food Policy initiative giving a presentation in a social-center of the city of Bergamo, presented at the Slow Food young activist meeting, gave lectures at Lyons’ Club online meeting. The researcher disengaged from Twitter ( X) for personal political reasons, stopping the frequency of her publications on this media in the last 2 years.All social media interactions on Instagram are available here https://linktr.ee/francescagreco78(opens in new window) and here, on the researcher personal Instagram webpage at this link here.
CONCLUSION:
Deliverables : (D 4.1) Delivearble 4.1 “Attendance of conferences” was performed successfully;
(D 4.2); Deliverable “Articles for the general and specialised public and a policy paper Interviews” was performed successfully
(D 4.3); Deliverable of “Webpage” was completed successfully
(D 4.4); Deliverable: “Schools and civil society engagement “ was completed successfully
(D 4.5). Deliverable 4.5 “Interopearability of website data , end user configuration and free access of dataset is achieved” ( see Zenodo and GitHub Repository)
Milestones M4.1 was reached. ( interopearability of website data , end user configuration and free access of dataset is achieved)
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
RESULTS
Production of a new methodology called "Follow the water" for the analysis of Virtual Water Trade and Water Footprint according to the school of Political Ecology
Production of an open-access dataset for Italy where:
-- 4 main indicators ( water depletion , drought risk, groundwater table decline and water stress from AQUEDUCT 4.0 WRI) have been plotted for the entire country blue water footprint of crop production ( Twente dataset Mialyc et al. 2024) following the May 2025 update.
--with a geospatial resolution of 8 square km per 8 square km
-- the same results have been coupled with data on blue water, green water and total water footprint of production for the entire country, with the same geospatial resolution
-- all coupled with the production of and geospatial visualization for the main ( most produced in terms of TONS per year) 24 crops per each Italian region
-- all provided of time series for each crop for each region from 2009 to 2019 as per Water Footprint dataset, for each Italian region, in terms of time series figures
POTENTIAL IMPACTS
The methodology of JustWATER is already being used in other water scarce countries such as Egypt and Morocco within the framework of a EU -funded project called STAPLES , under PRIMA.
FURTHER RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, ACCESS TO MARKETS AND FINANCE, COMMERCIALISATION , INTERNATIONALISATION
Private companies have approached the researcher requesting for the dataset, which is open source and free for them to use.
Regarding internationalisation: the methodology will be used for Morocco and Egypt in a EU-funded project under the PRIMA foundation consortium , in a project called STAPLES
where the researcher started to serve as a Senior Expert , on the next month after the end of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Research Fellowship.
OVERVIEW OF RESULTS
The project went beyond the state of the art by providing more than 600 maps regarding crop production in Italy and their related irrigation weight.
The project provided a map of "priority" water bodies where policy-oriented discussion is promoted by the researcher.
The project stimulated the first attempt to use geospatial virtual water and geo spatial water footprint analysis to serve political ecology and critical hydropolicy debate.
Production of a new methodology called "Follow the water" for the analysis of Virtual Water Trade and Water Footprint according to the school of Political Ecology
Production of an open-access dataset for Italy where:
-- 4 main indicators ( water depletion , drought risk, groundwater table decline and water stress from AQUEDUCT 4.0 WRI) have been plotted for the entire country blue water footprint of crop production ( Twente dataset Mialyc et al. 2024) following the May 2025 update.
--with a geospatial resolution of 8 square km per 8 square km
-- the same results have been coupled with data on blue water, green water and total water footprint of production for the entire country, with the same geospatial resolution
-- all coupled with the production of and geospatial visualization for the main ( most produced in terms of TONS per year) 24 crops per each Italian region
-- all provided of time series for each crop for each region from 2009 to 2019 as per Water Footprint dataset, for each Italian region, in terms of time series figures
POTENTIAL IMPACTS
The methodology of JustWATER is already being used in other water scarce countries such as Egypt and Morocco within the framework of a EU -funded project called STAPLES , under PRIMA.
FURTHER RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, ACCESS TO MARKETS AND FINANCE, COMMERCIALISATION , INTERNATIONALISATION
Private companies have approached the researcher requesting for the dataset, which is open source and free for them to use.
Regarding internationalisation: the methodology will be used for Morocco and Egypt in a EU-funded project under the PRIMA foundation consortium , in a project called STAPLES
where the researcher started to serve as a Senior Expert , on the next month after the end of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Research Fellowship.
OVERVIEW OF RESULTS
The project went beyond the state of the art by providing more than 600 maps regarding crop production in Italy and their related irrigation weight.
The project provided a map of "priority" water bodies where policy-oriented discussion is promoted by the researcher.
The project stimulated the first attempt to use geospatial virtual water and geo spatial water footprint analysis to serve political ecology and critical hydropolicy debate.