CLIMWAT - Assessing and managing the impact of climate change on coastal groundwater resources and dependent ecosystems

The two main objectives of CLIMWAT were: (i) to apply a joint methodology, integrating hydro-geological, hydro-geochemical and bio-indicator techniques, to identify and monitor the stress of groundwater resources in coastal regions, caused by over-exploitation and climate change; (ii) to develop several tools to be integrated into a sustainable groundwater management system that incorporates ecological demands, including: climate models, groundwater flow and transport models, and hydro-geochemical models. The project developed a multi-model framework to support a groundwater resource management system, taking into account the present-day and future climate variability (e.g. long-lasting droughts), the risk of seawater intrusion and the ecological demand of wetlands that depend on groundwater. Study areas included: Querença-Silves aquifer system (Algarve, Portugal), Ebro delta (Spain) and Oualidia Lagoon (Atlantic Sahel, Morocco).