AQUATERRA - Understanding river-sediment-soil-groundwater interactions for support of management of waterbodies (river basin & catchment areas)

AquaTerra was an integrated project aiming to provide the scientific basis for an improved river basin management through a better understanding of the river-sediment-soil-groundwater system as a whole, by integrating both natural and socio-economics aspects at different temporal and spatial scales. This should be applicable to European contexts facing modifications or changes due to climate change, land use and pollution of soil and water.

Soil-water management at catchment and river basin scales requires the identification of the relevant processes and the quantification of associated parameters, and the development of numerical models of the groundwater-soil-sediment-river system to identify adverse trends in soil functioning, water quantity and quality. The AquaTerra models integrate the key biogeochemical, climatic and hydrological processes over relevant scales in time and space. AquaTerra integrated across multiple disciplines, from geosciences, environmental engineering and chemistry to socio-economic sciences, from the catchment to the regional scale with case studies located in major European river basins. It involved practitioners and end-users to elaborate operational tools for the different stake-holders (policy-makers, river basin managers, regional and urban land planners, ). Aquaterra aimed to support to EU policy matters and take into account socio-economics issues and their legal implementations.