The concept of the project TREASURE is to minimize the effect of water scarcity under drought conditions by properly allocating groundwater and reclaimed water resources. Allocation will be determined by a sound hydrological knowledge of the system that will serve to test adaptation actions deriving from participated and inclusive governance activities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) models are proposed as promising tools to inform agents, stakeholders, and general citizenship on the actual state of the system and test the suitability of the proposed actions.
Our goal is to evaluate the potential of groundwater and reclaimed water sources as management alternatives to minimize drought impacts on both human water supply and environmental functions. It intends to fully incorporate both water sources into the water cycle while considering the hydrological idiosyncrasy of each basin, their drought record (past and future) and their overall water needs, whether human or environmental, managed though a well-documented governance project. In this sense, it proposes drought management based on data-driven models (AI) that value these alternative water sources and interrelate all the aquatic compartments: rivers, aquifers, wetlands, plus treated wastewater resources while reducing the effects of droughts and increasing water security.
As its relevance to the call, our project will deliver knowledge, models, and social involvement to efficiently face the challenge of managing water resources under drought or water scarcity scenarios. Therefore, our objectives are:
- To identify drought frequency and magnitude in past records as well as in future climate scenarios and contrast them with the available resources in each watershed, strengthening the potential of groundwater and the full reuse of reclaimed water to cope with water scarcity events.
- To determine indicators of water scarcity for the different types of droughts, that mark the evolution of water reserves and the ecological status of ecosystems.
- To integrate hydrological and environmental data of drought in data-driven models and explore AI methods.
- To evaluate the impacts of climate change on drought and recognize the effects on human supply and the environment, and to look for adaptive solutions through governance processes.