Sustainable freshwater management in coastal zones (LIFE_FRESHMAN)

Description:

Drinking water companies worldwide have freshwater supply problems. In many coastal areas, due to droughts and intrusion of salty water (partly due to rising sea levels), the freshwater provision has become endangered. Groundwater lenses occur where freshwater floats above denser saltwater. Brackish water in these lenses is a promising new resource to supplement coastal freshwater reserves, reducing seawater intrusion and creating a buffer during periods of drought.

The LIFE_FRESHMAN project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of a novel method to enlarge and safeguard freshwater availability, for producing drinking water and safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems, while creating a buffer for extreme drought conditions. Creating freshwater buffers and reducing dependence on climate-change sensitive freshwater sources, such as surface water, is key to increasing resilience. The objective of the project teams innovative technique, called Freshman, is to enlarge groundwater lenses in coastal zones by combined infiltration of freshwater and extraction of lower-level brackish groundwater. The enlarged lens acts as both a strategic freshwater storage solution and as a barrier against saltwater intrusion. The aim is to treat the extracted brackish water using reverse osmosis, to create a new climate-independent drinking water source. 

 

Project information

Lead

Dunea N.V., Netherlands

Partners

Watergroep (De Watergroep), Belgium
AW (Allied Waters B.V.), Netherlands
KWR (KWR Water B.V.), Netherlands
IWVA (Intercommunale Waterleidingsmaatschappij van Veurne-Ambacht), Belgium