MARadentro

Severe shortage in good quality water reserves is a global problem that will increase with a growing world population. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) will contribute to replenish depleted aquifers and restore ecological services in fresh water ecosystems. However, risks associated to the occurrence of for example pathogens and anthropogenic emerging pollutants in groundwater have led to question the reuse of reclaimed water for MAR. MARadentro aims to assess and minimize these risks, and to increase the benefits of MAR guaranteeing human health and environment protection through the development of affordable and effective permeable reactive layers. These integrate biotic and abiotic processes to enhance pathogen retention and inactivation and pollutant adsorption and degradation by making available a broad range of sorption sites and a sequence of redox states. The applicability of the proposed MAR layers will be validated by upscaling from lab and pilot experiments to field scale studies. Transport modelling, risk assessment, economic balance and establishment of recommendations to stakeholders and authorities in the water sector will guarantee the smooth implementation of this MAR concept and the positive public response to water reuse. The transfer of the knowledge gathered in MARadentro to policy makers will help in EU regulation on MAR.

WP1. Coordination and management 
Provide the necessary administrative and financial management coordination based on JPI accepted rules and guidelines. It will ensure a high standard of supervision, quality control and overall coordination of the activities described, within the planned time and planned budget, for the smooth running of MARadentro. 

WP2. Data mining and experimental design 
Review existing reclaimed water reuse for MAR projects, databases and records to identify gaps in knowledge, methodology and information as well as data needs. This will serve as the basis for properly developing novel reactive layers and will aid in the design and implementation of MAR testing at three scales. 

WP3. Lab testing 
Column experiments will be carried out to test and calibrate the performance of different layer compositions. Microbiological, toxicity and chemical analyses will be used to evaluate the performance of the tested layers and systems for the removal of pathogens and chemical pollutants. 

WP4. Pilot MAR testing 
A greater degree of complexity will be achieved in an existing pilot scale MAR located in Palamós WWTP (close to Barcelona). The facility consists of 6 recharge areas (2.4 m2) connected to 15 m. long sediment tanks mimicking the aquifer. The system allows biomass augmentation, addition of organic carbon sources and adsorbing chemical species. The use of real wastewaters in the pilot MAR will allow a realistic understanding of pollutants behaviors, largely influenced by source water physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics, in a complex fluctuating environment. For a more integrated approach, microbiology, toxicity and chemical analyses will be performed to describe the functionality of the reactive layers as well as to evaluate the performance of the pilot MAR for the removal of pathogens and chemical pollutants. 

WP5. Field MAR testing 
Validate MAR technology at a WWTP where the feasibility of our solution will be assessed under long-term operation. The MAR prototype will be fed with treated domestic wastewater with or without previous tertiary treatment. The design, construction and evaluation will be led by the industrial partner AQUALIA in close collaboration with the other partners. 

WP6. Transport modelling and risks assessment 
Numerical models will be developed to understand and predict the fate of basic ions and minerals, as well as pollutants and pathogens during MAR. These models will be calibrated with real data generated during the experiments performed at the three testing scales, i.e. laboratory, pilot and field. 

WP7. Economic balance
A comprehensive and interactive model will be created, which can be applied for economic feasibility studies and technical project evaluations under different scenarios. Possible industrial outcomes will be evaluated to reach the market. Economic impact, market trends and technology positioning will be studied. 

WP8. Exploitation and dissemination 
Exploitation and dissemination of the project outcomes will be coordinated and supported by WP8 and will cover all WP activities during the entire duration of the project.

MARadentro will fill a knowledge gap as well as a regulatory gap for MAR technology to contribute to closing the water cycle gap. Specifically, MARadentro will develop a knowledge base for understanding, preventing and mitigating the risks associated to MAR implementation, to make MAR a reliable technology for water management adapted to the emerging water challenges. The incorporation of novel reactive layers will ensure MAR as a sound and safe technology, capable to increase fresh water resources as well as to improve ecological status and chemical quality of GW, while ensuring no negative impacts over human health. The economic analysis will facilitate the market replication of MAR into the water sector. Key scientific recommendations, validated by the demonstrable data produced, will be formulated and legislative refinement suggested over the basis of scientists and stakeholder’s guidance to help develop water policies closer to end-users needs. General public acceptance about MAR is expected providing a firm scientific basis and an open access to the outcomes. The technological readiness level from several multidisciplinary approaches and applications will be improved, reaching a MAR prototype close to market. MARadentro main outputs are listed below:

•  Publications
• Contributions in Conferences
• Webinar.
• Stakeholders meetings.
• Lectures in Master courses.
• Master and PhD Theses.
• Sofware applications and models.
• Monitoring tools for pathogens
• Events at MAR field site for stakeholders, schools, and the public to increase awareness
• A TV documentary about water resources, closing the water cycle gap and MAR technology.
• A protopype of the reactive barrier developed.
• for the prototype of the reactive layer.
• Provide a success case of market ready solution (with patent if possible), in order to boost the replication in other regions and transferability to other sectors.
• Provide economic and environmental impact of a full scale indirect potable water reuse scheme with MAR optimized design.
• Increase the understanding of water quality improvement processes during MAR, and specifically the conditions for effective removal of pollutants and retention of pathogens, thus contributing to integrated water resources management (IWRM).
• Formalize and demonstrate the benefits of MAR and the requirements on MAR design, construction and operation to guarantee a high quality effluent.
• Evaluate alternative early warning tools for rapid assessment of microbiological water quality ameliorations in MAR.
• Suggest realistic EU recommendations favouring implementation of MAR while avoiding its potential risks.
• Improve chances for economic development of all economic sectors as a result of an increase on water availability and increased resilience to water stress conditions.
• Promote the positive perception to water reuse and MAR by the general public (social acceptance).