MARSURE Project

This project aims to develop hybrid techniques for aquifer recharge management to increase their applicability and enhance the removal of pollutants during recharge. Based on this knowledge, the project will investigate the effects of recharge to expand the understanding of the impacts of climate change and droughts.

It was selected in the Water4All call and is funded by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and co-financed by the European Union through the research project PCI2024-153503 during the period 2024-2027.

Summary

MARSURE investigates and demonstrates the advantages of the Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for safe water management, especially considering the expected increase of droughts due to global climate change and the potential risks arising from source water contamination. The project seeks to achieve safe hybrid MAR effluents (hybrid MAR) through a combination of pretreatments, highly controlled subsurface hydraulic regimes, and in situ adsorption barriers, while promoting a diverse and highly functional MAR microbial community.
The primary objective of MARSURE is to develop hybrid technologies that enable the removal of a broader range of contaminants in the hybrid MAR systems, typically present in degraded and reclaimed surface waters. MARSURE’s innovative approaches include controlling the MAR environment by establishing controlled conditions for adapted degraded communities, without promoting the further spread of antibiotic resistance through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this way, MARSURE will expand the quality of the water sources applicable to hybrid MAR systems, where, for example, reclaimed wastewater and degraded water constitute continuous water sources even during droughts.
The specific objectives of the project are: (I) to determine the optimal pretreatment technologies that ensure an efficient pollutant removal and operation of the hybrid MAR recharge system; (II) to identify means to stimulate metabolic and co-metabolic degradation processes of pollutants in wastewater; (III) to establish a regional model framework highlighting the most vulnerable sites to droughts and climate change, as well as potential sites for implementing hybrid MAR; and (IV) to evaluate through numerical modeling the effects of hybrid MAR on groundwater availability under climatic stress and future demands. The research considers different spatial scales, from laboratory columns to outdoor pilot facilities and regional numerical modelling.