Groundwater recharge in the Eastern Mediterranean - a comparative study on integrated evaluation techniques for groundwater resources along a hydro climatic gradient

Objective

The GREM Project has three main objectives :
* quantification of natural recharge in four different hydro-climatic environments in the Eastern Mediterranean in Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan;
* comparison of the suitability of different methods for groundwater recharge estimation in the Eastern Mediterranean;
* development of an integrated model for groundwater resources evaluation including water quality and water quantity.
Expected Outcome

In general, the study should help to improve and facilitate the evaluation of groundwater resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. In four case studies in Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan, recommendations on the sustainable abstraction and use of groundwater will be developed for representative key areas.
The groundwater potential will be assessed as a regionalized variable : this should improve the knowledge about the natural distribution of groundwater and its quality and enable refined planing, especially in dry areas. With the mixing cell model a tool will be further developed that allows the prediction of groundwater flow and quality for given scenarios. Finally, the comparative study should result in guidelines for the most suitable methods of groundwater recharge estimation and their range of applicability in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The work will be carried out in selected study areas along a hydro-climatic profile through the Eastern Mediterranean region. The key activities are :
* Field work on groundwater recharge within the four individual study basins using the main estimation techniques water balance, halogen profiles and flow mixing modelling.
* GIS integration of the different methods. This part of the study aims at building regional databases on Geographic information systems for mapping and regionalization. Quantitative estimation techniques will be implemented in an GIS environment. Special efforts will be made to investigate regionalization techniques.
* Work on groundwater recharge modelling. The mixing cell approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative aspects of groundwater resources evaluation, will be further developed and applied in the different study basins.
* Finally, comparative studies on the suitability and performance of several methods in the Eastern Mediterranean environments will be made. This activity will involve the combined application of methods in each of the basins and the definition of criteria for their applicability.

Programme(s)

• FP4-INCO - Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of cooperation with third countries and international organizations, 1994-1998

Topic(s)

• 03010102 - Basic natural resources

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Address

1,Pleicherwall 1
97070 Würzburg
Germany

Participants (4)

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Greece

Address

University Campus
54006 Thessaloniki

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Israel

Address

84990 Sede-boker

Ministry of Agricultural and Natural Resources

Cyprus

Address

1415 Nicosia

University of Jordan

Jordan

Address

11942 Amman