Main Objectives · archived 2013

Main Objectives

The strategic objective of the second phase of SMART (SMART II) is to improve the scientific background and to provide methodologies and implement demonstration pilots for the large deployment of water new utilization and management technologies in the project area, including the large scale deployment of wastewater treatment, the desalination of brackish water and the conjugate use of water resources of different qualities in order to increase the available water yield and ensure the durability of their utilization. Implementation and demonstrations activities will be emphasized alongside research and development, and dissemination and capacity building activities.

To achieve our strategic goal, a number of secondary objectives are defined as follows:

1. Continue the effort of developing and adapting decentralized wastewater treatment technologies that are suited to the local needs and that are capable of providing substantial sources of water for irrigation. This activity is already being carried out in the frame of SMART I with substantial involvement of relevant German industries.
2. Apply technologies for the quality improvement of treated effluent in order to lift restrictions on its use for irrigation.
3. Extend the exploitation of brackish water coupled with desalination technologies.
4. For each water utilization and exploitation technology conduct extensive economical and socio-economic analyses in order to estimate the relevant cost parameters as well as the readiness of the local populations to use alternative sources of water.
5. Conduct field surveys for the identification and characterization of the areas having a substantial water storage and recovery potential for the implementation of seasonal and long term water storage by means of artificial aquifer recharge.
6. Implement seasonal and long term storage of water by means of artificial recharge of aquifers.
7. Complete the Database management system constructed in SMART I and extend it so it can provide sophisticated querying and visualization tools.
8. Continue the hydro-geological characterization of the LJV major water bearing layers, allowing thus the refinement of the computational models of flow and transport simulation (the regional trans-boundary model as well as the local sub-basin ones).
9. Provide a better assessment of the climate change impact of the water resources: the GLOWA project that is being carried out in parallel to SMART has invested substantial effort in the evaluation of the changes in the precipitations regimes subsequent to the global climate change, particularly for water resources planning time horizons of 20-30 years (2030-2050). The generated rainfall scenarios relevant to the area will be incorporated into the trans-boundary model in order to estimate the resulting changes on the natural replenishment of the LJV groundwater resources and therefore to draw the implications on the groundwater resources utilization.
10. Continue the effort in the identification of areas with potential for water resources development (fresh and brackish alike).
11. Develop tools for the planning of artificial recharge facilities taking into account both hydraulic and chemical aspects, including computational models for the simulation of saturated-unsaturated flow and reactive transport.
12. Develop a platform for the Environmental Impact Assessment of the activities above the ground (industry, agriculture, tourism etc.) on the water quality in the aquifer, at the natural outlets (streams and springs) and water production facilities (wells).
13. Extend the capacity building activities already initiated in SMART I. In the first phase of the project substantial effort was invested in the Ph.D. program that will boost in the very near future the human research and development resources that will be made available to the area. This program that has been very successful both the scientific education but also cooperation between partners will be continued by providing up to another 12 grants to Ph.D. students for investing key problems of the area.
14. Enhance the exposure of SMART findings and deliverables to a wider community of local agencies, water and environmental authorities and local stakeholders, by means of assertive disseminations measures, including the opening of the SMART II meetings to these audiences, the organization of short courses and workshops on specific topics of practical interest, and the extension of the project web site so that most of the findings of public domain dissemination could be made available. The already close bonds created with the local water authorities and regulators will be maintained by associating them more deeply to the project work-packages and adapting our work-plans to cope with specific needs/problems requiring attention