NItrate REcovery CApacity Status

Project Information

NIRECAS

Grant agreement ID: 101150996

DOI 10.3030/101150996

EC signature date 23 April 2024

Start date 14 June 2024

End date 13 November 2026

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost No data

EU contribution € 255 870,48

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE DE RENNES
France

Objective

Nitrate pollution remains a significant concern for water quality. Since the 90s, Europe has been actively working to reduce nitrate levels and improve water quality. Yet, restoring water quality is a slow process as nitrates may remain for decades within aquifers as a legacy. While imperative, assessing Nitrate Recovery Capacity (NRC) faces challenges due to strong variabilities in nitrate transfer times and percentages removed by bacterial consumption within anoxic zones, often requiring intricate models.
Here, we propose to leverage an innovative regional-scale assessment method to investigate the correlation between NRC and a readily accessible catchment attribute: lithology. Comparing nitrate concentrations with proxies of conservatively transferred element, NIRECAS determines the nitrate reactivity and legacy of a region. Within consistent geological contexts, the method analyzes the correlation between these factors and lithology while providing uncertainties of the correlation estimates. Our objectives are to (i) investigate the control of lithology on nitrate reactivity and legacy using 200 pilot sites in the Armorican Massif (France) taken as a first experimental region and (ii) extend and generalize the methodology to other European regions. Our deliverables include (1) a methodology for regional scale NRC mapping using available lithology databases, (2) maps of NRC for one to several European regions where lithology is found to be the primary controlling factor, (3) a user-friendly interface to a priori assess the percentage and transfer time of nitrate removed.
This should provide key information on the ability of vulnerable regions to restore water quality while catching the legacy of past agricultural practices at the relevant resolution. Besides, NIRECAS should serve as a valuable predictive tool to assess the impact of current agricultural strategies on future generations and support the transition of practices over the medium and long term.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.

• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › geology › lithology
• natural sciences › computer and information sciences › databases
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › environmental sciences › pollution

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Keywords

• denitrification
• hydrogeological modeling
• lithological control
• shallow aquifers
• up-scaling

Programme(s)

• HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme

Topic(s)

• HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01-01 - MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023

Call for proposal

HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DE RENNES

• Net EU contribution: € 255 870,48
• Address: 263 AVENUE DU GENERAL LECLERC ; 35042 Rennes ; France
• Region: Bretagne › Bretagne › Ille-et-Vilaine
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: No data

Partners (1)

Partner

Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.

Centre de Ressour-ces et dExpertise Scientifique sur lEau en Bretagne

France

• Net EU contribution: € 0,00
• Address: 283 avenue du Général Patton ; 35711 Rennes
• Region: Bretagne › Bretagne › Ille-et-Vilaine
• Activity type: Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
• Total cost: No data