Presentation hold during EIP Water Conference in Porto, as part of the Porto Water Innovation Week in Session 4 “Developing water innovation with R&D centres, innovation hubs and accelerators”

1. WATER INNOVATION: BRIDGING GAPS,
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES
27 AND 28 SEPTEMBER 2017
ALFÂNDEGA PORTO CONGRESS CENTRE
DEVELOPING WATER INNOVATION WITH R&D
CENTRES, INNOVATION HUBS AND ACCELERATORS
UNITING UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH LABS, LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN THE MAR
NETWORK IN ITALY
RUDY ROSSETTO
SSSUP, ITALY / “MAR” EIP WATER ACTION
GROUP

2. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
Uniting the research world, local government
and the private sector in the Italian Network
on Managed Aquifer Recharge (INMAR)
Rudy Rossetto
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna - Italy
r.rossetto@sssup.it
Action Group 128 MAR SOLUTIONS

3. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
challenges posed requires lots of innovation in terms of:

4. Widespread in US, Australia, Israel
Managed Aquifer Recharge
Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
Recharge is “managed” in order to assure an adequate protection of
human health and the environment
MAR differs from:
• unmanaged recharge (i.e.: stormwater infiltration facilities)
• unintentional recharge (i.e.: recharge caused by excess irrigation)

5. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
CHALLENGES
Lots of innovation in terms of:
- plant design;
- monitoring of surface and groundwater;
- big data management;
- regulation;
- and stakeholders involvement…

6. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
Need for Managed Aquifer Recharge… in Italy

7. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
Cagliari:
2 ASR’s
Infiltration Trench
Infiltration Pond
Carbonia – Iglesias:
ASR
Ferrara:
Infiltration Pond
Lucca:
IRBF
Milano:
2 Infiltration Ponds
Padova:
FIA
IRBF
Pesaro Urbino:
ASR
Pordenone:
SAT
Prato:
IRBF
Ravenna:
Infiltration Pond
Rimini:
2 ASR’s
2 Infiltration Ponds
IRBF
Bari:
ASTR
Livorno:
River scarification
Treviso:
Infiltration Pond
Udine:
Dry well
Infiltration Pond
Vicenza:
7 dry wells
4 FIA’s
Infiltration Pond
Infiltration Trench
Infiltration Channel
Infiltration Field
Siracusa:
ASR
UNMONITORED
Credits: Silvia Di Bartolo – Alessio Barbagli
ARTIFICIALAQUIFER
RECHARGEINITALY

8. RECENT YEARS/1
Aquifer recharge co-financed by the European Commission mainly through the LIFE program.
- TRUST (Tool for regional - scale assessment of groundwater storage improvement in adaptation to
climate change, LIFE07 ENV/IT/000475)
- AQUOR (Implementation of a water saving and artificial recharging participated strategy for the
quantitative groundwater layer rebalance of the upper Vicenza's plain - LIFE 2010 ENV/IT/380)
- WARBO (Water re-born - artificial recharge: innovative technologies for the sustainable management of
water resources, LIFE10 ENV/IT/000394; 2014).
From TRUST From TRUST

9. RECENT YEARS/2
In 2014, the Regional Authority of Emilia Romagna started a MAR pilot on the
Marecchia River fan using a recharge basin to alleviate water scarcity in the Rimini
area as results of drought periods (Severi et al. 2014).
Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
To be
operational
soon!

10. On October the 3rd 2014 about 300 persons took part in a 1-day
workshop on the implementation of MAR techniques in Italy
Italian Network on MAR -
INMAR
IMPACT

11. REGULATION

12. Lack of knowledge is preventing the
application of these techniques (i.e. engineers
are very good in dams building but knowledge
on MAR is less than basic).
What the INMAR Network is for…
Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
Dissemination of MAR scientific findings and technical know-how
among professionals, governing authorities and the public is crucial
for the application of MAR techniques.

13. University, scientific and
technical coordination.
Dissemination and
extension activities
CO-FINANCERS
Regional Authority,
Decision making
Land management
authority, project
coordinator.
Water utility
Design of demonstrators.
Dissemination activities
sustainable WATer management in the lower
Cornia valley through demand REduction,
aquifer REcharge and river REstoration

14. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
LIFE REWAT STRATEGY
1st PILLAR: demo actions
Water saving in civil sector
Managed Aquifer Recharge
Wastewater Reuse
River Restoration
Water saving in agriculture
2nd PILLAR: stakeholder involvement
Dissemination
Extension
Matching
Training

15. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
MAR plant SUVERETO
Expected results
>storage of 600k m3/y
Max 2 Mm3/y;
Combat saline intrusion
DEMONSTRATION

16. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
After 200 days
0.05 m3/s recharge
(about 900k m3)
Construction cost:
less than 500k €
Expected head increase
www.freewat.eu

17. FREEWAT architecture
Surface and
Groundwater
Simulation
Water quality
simulation and
analysis tools
Rural water
management
module
UPSCALING from
cell results
WATER
MANAGEMENT
AND PLANNING
MODULE
GIS AND SPATIAL
DATABASE
Calibration
Sensitivity
Analysis
Parameter
estimation
Observation Analysis
Tool

18. PROSPECTS
It is of outmost importance to define which are the financial
instruments to sustain these water infrastructures, so to guarantee not
only their set up, but also routinely operations.
This may contribute to opening a new market in the water sector.
Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
As dams construction is pretty an unfeasible option (due to economy
and unwilling population and several environmental issues) MAR can
constitute a valid alternative.

19. Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
LIMITATIONS
Future work (research in primis) is needed in order to foster the use
of treated municipal wastewater (Soil Aquifer Treatment systems).
While care is paid to the MAR plant set up, still little attention is given
to the monitoring system, especially related to quality issues.
The latter may change MAR from being an opportunity to a threat.

20. CONCLUSIONS
The regulatory framework now is there: need to be tested
Training activities for professionals and awareness raising among
relevant stakeholders constitute a turning point for the application of
MAR in Italy.
Growing interest from research institutes and local authorities on the
use of this low-cost techniques (compared to other solutions)
Companies next to come.
Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution
to Water Scarcity and Drought
An EU FP7 Project
From TRUST From TRUST

21. Thank you!