Natural aquifer recharge to restore natural wetlands
Castilla y Leon, Spain
Description: The Duero Hydrographic Confederation manages the international basin district of the Duero River in Spain and coordinates the efforts towards the natural recharge of the Medina del Campo shallow aquifer in Spain. The H2020 NAIAD project (Nature Insurance Value: Assessment and Demonstration) is a European project funded by Horizon 2020. Started in December 2016, it aims to demonstrate the potential of NbS to reduce water-related risks—specifically extreme water-related disasters. The project’s goal is to operationalize the concept of nature insurance value, recognizing the contribution of ecosystems to society’s resilience to water risks. The aim of the project is to explore and promote the potential role of NbS as a natural insurance against extreme hydrological events, such as floods and droughts, as well as the provision of additional benefits. The project has designed a series of methodologies that have been applied in nine sites across Europe. The case of Medina del Campo is the only one that focuses on drought risks. One of the two adaptation strategies considered by the project consists in the implementation of a natural drainage-based NbS to support natural recharge in the Medina del Campo shallow aquifer. This aquifer is seriously overexploited, which in turn impacts regional water availability and the integrity of the aquifer-fed surface aquatic ecosystems. This measure is part of an Integrated River Basin Management Plan designed by the Duero River Basin Authority, which comprises a set of green, hybrid, and soft measures aimed at achieving high quality standards for the Duero water bodies while safeguarding regional economic and social sustainability.
Challenges: The Duero basin is an international watershed basin that spans seven regions. Most of the territory is in Castilla y León (98.32 percent), whilst remaining areas are distributed among the autonomous regions of Galicia, Cantabria, La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Madrid. The Medina del Campo aquifer in the Duero basin occupies an area of 3,700 square kilometres that includes 154 municipalities in Castilla y León. Irrigated agriculture has a great influence on the economy and the subsistence of the rural areas, accounting for 96 percent of annual water withdrawals and being linked to 5,495 concessions for use of underground water for irrigation. Extensive and excessive extraction has caused a significant decrease in groundwater levels in recent decades, causing a degradation of water quality and a deterioration of riverine ecosystems. Two rivers and several wetlands associated with the aquifer have disappeared, thereby greatly reducing provided ecosystem services. According to the Duero Hydrological Plan, the aquifer water quantity is in bad condition.
©Scott Warren
Financing: This project is promoted by the Duero Hydrographic Confederation and the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León, with European funding via the H2020 NAIAD and LIFE-IP RBMP programs. The LIFE-IP RBMP Duero project will finance the implementation of the NbS and its monitoring. The implementation of the NbS for the recharge of the aquifer will cost EUR 12.5m. Of these, LIFE funds will cover EUR 6.7 million and EUR 5.8 million will be contributed by the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.
Actions and impacts: Within the NAIAD project’s Medina del Campo demo, two NbS based adaptation strategies have been co-designed and explored with the main local stakeholders.
Another strategy of interest considered by the project is the introduction of agricultural alternatives, including crop changes and soil water retention practices that could allow reducing water requirements without leading to economic loss for farmers in the long term. These strategies were analysed to assess their potential to reduce the impacts of recurrent droughts as a result of climate change and restore the quality of the aquifer and associated ecosystems. The analysis assessed potential avoided drought-related damages and estimated additional values created as co-benefits. The resulting socio-economic and environmental impacts are being estimated through modelling, economic evaluations, and participatory valuation of intangibles, as well as the inclusion of multidimensional quantitative indicators.
References
NAIAD EU, www.naiad2020.eu
NAIAD Medina demo case study (to be published, November 2019).
European Commission (EC). (2018). Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NAIAD (NA¬ture Insurance value: Assessment and Demonstration). (accessed October 2019).
©Adriano Gambarini
