Freshwater resources are suffering increasing pressure in urban areas due to several factors, such as climate change and growing population. Currently, Catalonia is facing a severe drought period of more than two years and this situation is especially critical at the Ter-Llobregat water system that is at 27% capacity. Droughts have been a recurrent phenomenon in these catchments in recent years and there is the urgent need to propose alternative water resources such as urban groundwater. Groundwater can be used as strategic resource to tackle the limited availability of surface water resources, meeting peak demands, but it is essential to investigate the groundwater quality, to explore its potential uses including drinking water supply and to forecast potential future scenarios considering the impact of climate change on groundwater resources.
In this context, the aim of WATERCLIMATE is to develop a set of tools and guidelines/strategies to ensure the availability of groundwater resources in urban areas to face climate change. These tools include source apportionment modelling tool (RE-MIX code) as well as numerical modelling, and will allow the better management of water resources improving qualitative and quantitative aspects. These tools will be applied in the Besòs River catchment at different scales but can be used in any other aquifer system of Catalonia and Europe.
Funding: AGAUR and 2023 CLIMA 0101 (Generalitat de Catalunya)
