Projects in execution
EUROPEAN LIFEWATCH INDALO PROJECT
Title: Scientific infrastructure for monitoring biodiversity and its adaptation to global change in Andalusia
Financing program: POPE 2014-2020 operational program (FEDER) - LIFEWATCH ERIC line of action. Co-financed by Feder funds, the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Ministry of Sustainable Development
Consortium: Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucía (AMAYA), Universidad de Málaga, UAL, UCA, UCO, UHU, UJA, UPO, USE, IFAPA and INTA
Main researcher: Bartolomé Andreo Navarro (CEHIUMA-UMA)
Brief summary: The INDALO project aims to study the biodiversity in different representative ecosystems of Andalusia, and the analysis of its evolution to detect and understand the consequences of Global Change, for which it will make available to researchers, those tools, equipment and networks monitoring, as well as the necessary technology for the development of scientific tasks, all in a common work environment in which both managers and scientists can use and share the information, favoring the transfer of the knowledge generated to improve the management of biodiversity by the Andalusian Administration.
The role of CEHIUMA in the INDALO project consists of the design and implementation of a hydrological and hydrogeological control network for wetlands that allows the generation of a hydrological information base that allows the development of research work focused on the efficient management of wetlands and, in particular, studies of climate change.
REKARST PROJECT BY THE STATE RESEARCH AGENCY (2020-2023)
Title: Combinación de métodos experimentales y modelos numéricos para cuantificar la dinámica de la recarga en acuíferos carbonatados (kársticos) [REKARST]
Financing programme: National R&D Plan
Main researchers: Bartolomé Andreo y Matías Mudarra (CEHIUMA-UMA)
Brief summary: The main purpose of this research project is to advance in the knowledge of the processes that govern the movement of water in carbonatic aquifers, with special emphasis on those that occur in the superficial part. This is intended to achieve a better understanding of the natural dynamics of infiltration and underground flow, as a scientific basis for the development of numerical simulation tools that allow an accurate evaluation and reliable predictions on the present and future availability of water resources in systems. karst. The project places special emphasis on the development of experimental methodologies that help to better understand the hydrogeological functioning of the carbonatic aquifers in southern Spain, which will allow the development of more realistic conceptual and numerical models.
LIFE-MATRIX EUROPEAN PROJECT
Title: Safe water reuse in Managed Aquifer Recharge: innovative solution combining physical, digital and governance aspects (LIFE20/ENV/ES/000788)
Funding programme: LIFE 2020 - Environment and climate action
Consortium: Fundación Centro Andaluz de Investigaciones del Agua (Cetaqua AND; coordinador), Cetaqua BCN, CEHIUMA-UMA y Acosol S.A.
Responsible researchers: Bartolomé Andreo y Juan Antonio Barberá (CEHIUMA-UMA)
Brief summary: The general objective of the project is to demonstrate the technical, environmental and health feasibility of managed recharge of aquifers with reclaimed water, in order to increase the availability of groundwater resources allowing to improve the status of groundwater bodies in the context of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) in areas with water stress. The MATRIX solution (MAR physical device + decision support system + water governance component) constitutes a feasibility test for the recharge of reclaimed water with tertiary treatment from the La Víbora treatment plant (Marbella), in the Mass of Groundwater Marbella-Estepona (060.040). The specific objectives foreseen are: 1) to demonstrate the guarantees of reusing water when managed aquifer recharge systems are implemented; 2) characterize the technical and economic performance of the implemented solution and 3) improve the acceptance and perception of the population regarding the reuse of suitably purified water.
Official website (LIFE-MATRIX): in the design phase
ERDF PROJECT OF THE JUNTA DE ANDALUCIA
Title: Investigaciones hidrogeológicas de acuíferos carbonatados sobreexplotados del Norte de la provincia de Málaga para la mejora de la gestión de los recursos hídricos y de los ecosistemas asociados (UMA20-FEDERJA-009).
Financing program: Programa operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020. Convocatoria 2020
Consortium: CEHIUMA-UMA (coordina), IGME-CSIC y CSIC.
Responsible researchers: Bartolomé Andreo y Juan Antonio Barberá (CEHIUMA-UMA)
Breve resumen: This project aims to investigate the hydrogeology of carbonate aquifers subjected to intensive use of groundwater, to try to propose preventive and/or corrective measures for a rational management of water resources. This will be possible by optimizing the use of good quality water for different uses, from an environmental sustainability perspective, based on the preservation of dependent aquatic ecosystems. The results obtained will contribute to improving the socioeconomic development of regions that depend partially or totally on it, as is the case of the northern region of the province of Malaga (counties of Antequera and Northeast). The aim is thus to establish a strategy for future water management that includes actions aimed at decision-making in emergency situations, such as in periods of extreme drought or in cases of the resource becoming unusable due to pollution episodes, or in anticipation of an increase in demand and diminishing resources. These actions would contribute to mitigating the adverse effects of anthropogenic pressures and global change on the availability of groundwater, as well as population growth in future scenarios.
PERIDOTITE PROJECT
Title: Hydrogeochemistry of the Ronda Peridotite: Characterization of groundwater and associated methane.
Reference: UMA18-FEDERJA-101
Responsible researcher: Iñaki Vadillo Pérez (CEHIUMA-UMA)
Brief summary: The serpentinization in Peridotites (hydration of olivine and pyroxenes) is responsible for the production of hyperalkaline waters (pH > 9) and hydrocarbon gases, such as methane (CH4). These products have implications for hydrogeology (hydrogeochemistry of hyperalkaline waters), the carbon cycle (CH4 produced and emitted into the atmosphere), planetary geology (CH4 produced as analogous to that of Mars), microbiology (extremophilic environments) and economic geology (generation and storage of methane as an energy resource and as a precursor to clean fuels (H2)). All these manifestations have a common geological link, which is to study the hydrogeochemical processes that occur in these ultramafic rocks. In this project, hydrogeochemical techniques are applied to study the groundwater drained by this lithology and establish a hydrogeochemical model that explains the appearance of waters with disparate characteristics; as well as establishing associations between hyperalkaline waters and methane manifestations.
Peridotite outcrop at Los Reales peak, Estepona (Málaga)
EMERGING PROJECT
Title: Study, detection and behavior of emerging pollutants in anthropized basins of Andalusia
Reference: P20-397
Responsible researcher: Iñaki Vadillo Pérez (CEHIUMA-UMA)
Brief summary: The project is based on the previous experience of researchers on the hydrogeology of pollutants and CECs in the Guadalhorce River Basin (Málaga), the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra basin (Málaga) and the Upper Genil River basin (Granada). The project aims to achieve three objectives: (1) detect and quantify CECs (PhACs, PCPs, drugs, endocrine disruptors, DBPs, nanomaterials, microplastics, PAHs, PCBs, OPFRs and various pesticides); (2) relate human activities with the presence and distribution of these compounds and study, with fundamentals, hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical techniques and methodology, the behavior of CECs in water systems; and (3) establish basic information to monitor the CECs on the priority lists of the European Union, which is an obligatory requirement to estimate the good chemical status of surface and groundwater bodies.
Sampling of emerging pollutants in Río Grande (Guadalhorce River Basin, Málaga)