RESources in Coastal groundwater Under hydroclimatic Extremes (RESCUE)

There are several sources of fresh-water: rainfall, lakes, rivers, snow, permafrost, water vapor, shallow groundwater and deep groundwater aquifers, to name a few. There are also freshwater resources underneath the surface of the ocean, known as offshore aquifers. Recent research estimates that the volume of water in offshore aquifers is one hundred times greater than the amount extracted from the earth’s subsurface in the 20th century. However, to date, there has been little or no exploration of deep-coastal and offshore resources in Europe. The primary challenge hindering the utilization of this new water source is the lack of knowledge. The RESCUE project aims to bridge this gap by building better understanding of deep-coastal and offshore freshwater aquifers, which will enable local and regional policy makers to lay the foundations for the evaluation and utilization of these new resources. The project spans two distinct study areas in Europe- United Kingdom and surrounding North Sea and North Mediterranean sea. The study area is chosen to explore fresh groundwater phenomena on two different scales: large scale including UK and surrounding waters where a rich repertoire of seismic and well data is available. And small-basin scale in North Mediterranean, a region with good hydrogeological data, and which is also affected by water scarcity. To understand the role of these potential new water resources, these are the four project components that will be addressed: Technical (hydrogeological simulations groundwater recharge estimates), Economical (cost-befit analysis, stakeholder mapping), Social (podcast series and seminars) and Legal (water regulations, transboundary laws, maritime zone regulations from the oil and gas sector). The project will be undertaken by an international consortium: Ruden AS (Norway), University of Trieste (Italy), Institute of Oceanography & Applied Geophysics (Italy), University of Derby (UK) and National University of Malta (Malta).

In the context of ongoing water crises, the UN has placed emphasis on the importance of exploring deep-onshore, and offshore freshwater among other unconventional water resources to develop resilience of water-scarce communities against climate change. However, to date, there has been little or no exploration of deep-coastal and offshore resources in Europe. The primary challenge hindering the utilization of this new water source is the lack of knowledge. The RESCUE project aims to bridge this gap by building better understanding of deep-coastal and offshore freshwater aquifers, evaluating their economic feasibility, producing guidelines for utilization and regulation, and disseminating information about them. This will enable local and regional policy makers to lay the foundations for the evaluation and utilization of these new resources. The sustainable use of deep-coastal and offshore groundwater will ultimately help secure a steady supply of water to both population and industry, in times of hydroclimatic extremes. Our approach is focused on gaining a deep understanding at two scales: 1) Local hydrogeological modelling, and 2) Regional or large-scale hydrogeological modelling. Through this approach, we aim to determine the most appropriate scale for models needed to best evaluate these novel resources and provide the necessary tools for producing new guidelines for exploring deep-coastal and offshore groundwater in Europe and beyond, whether at catchment hydrogeology level or in large transboundary aquifers. To achieve our aims, we have selected two regions in Europe: 1) For the local hydrogeological modelling, a region with a declared current water scarcity problem with sufficient geological data for the study (Mediterranean, Northern Italy), and 2) for the regional scale hydrogeological modelling, a large area where data coverage allows near continental-scale workflow development (UK).