OPtimal strategies to retAIN and re-use water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across different soil-climatic regions in Europe (OPTAIN)

OPTAIN (EU-funded research and innovation project, 2020-2025) proposes a social and scientific journey towards the increase and better understanding of the multiple benefits of Natural/Small Water Retention Measures (NSWRMs).

OPTAIN aims to increase the knowledge and understanding of multiple benefits that spatially targeted combinations of NSWRM have on the management of small agriculture catchments across continental, Pannonian and boreal biogeographical regions of Europe, and on the conditions under which they perform most effectively. As well as OPTAIN aims to increase acceptance and better implementation of natural, small, and underutilized retention measures by showing under which weather/climate conditions, on which scale (field/catchment), on which location in the catchment and in combination with which other measures NSWRM perform best, considering environmental but also socio-economic indicators.

NSWRMs can help to mitigate the conflicts between agricultural water uses (e.g. plant production, animals) and other human and environmental demands for water, including drinking water or maintaining environmental flow. This is crucial, since these conflicts will be probably exacerbated by an increasing number of extreme events such as droughts and heavy rainfall. A more careful management of head watersheds will significantly contribute to a more resilient agriculture and society

To reach these overall aims, seven objectives need to be met, which are reflected in OPTAIN’s project structure, the 7 work packages: WP1- Case Study and Multi-Actor Approach, WP2 - Measures & Indicators, WP3 - Data Retrieval & Harmonization, WP4 – Modelling, WP5 – Optimization, WP6 - Synthesis and Policy Recommendations, WP7 - Communication & Dissemination. WP8 - Project management coordinates and manages the previous tasks.

OPTAIN will focus on 14 case studies across Continental (7), Pannonia (3) and Boreal (4) biogeographical regions of Europe. The distribution of case studies reflects well on the share of agricultural land within the different H2020 focus regions.