The EU faces new challenges in protecting, using, and ensuring groundwater resilience. The European Commission has made this protection a key priority for EU action in the new legislative period. Laws, water framework directives, and agreements for all EU member states, such as the Green Deal, are already in place.
Concrete proposals for sustainable groundwater management have also been around for a long time. However, implementation is often difficult. This is frequently due to so-called remote effects. This means that the poor quality and quantity of European groundwater bodies in many places is not necessarily caused locally, where the groundwater is extracted. Rather, the problems arise from water transfers or excessive touristic use.
One example is the sharp rise in water demand in Mediterranean regions, which is putting considerable strain on water resources and is largely attributable to the booming tourism industry. On the island of Krk, water supply relies on a long-distance water pipeline during peak season. This in turn affects the groundwater bodies on the Croatian mainland and creates structural dependencies for the island. Local groundwater problems must therefore be understood on a larger scale.
Since 2020, scientists from the regulate research group led by Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky and Robert Lütkemeier from ISOE have been studying European groundwater problems and their spatial relationships as telecouplings. The researchers have now presented their findings, which include concrete management strategies for sustainable water supply in booming holiday regions, in Brussels.
Together with the Representation of the State of Hesse to the European Union, the regulate research group invited guests to a presentation of its research findings on April 29, 2025. At the discussion event “Groundwater as Cornerstone for Resilience: New Spatial Relationships and Entry Points for Sustainable Groundwater Regulation,” Robert Lütkemeier and Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky exchanged ideas with renowned experts in European water management.
The invitation was accepted by Oliver Loebel, Secretary General of the European Federation of National Water Utilities (EurEau), Klaus Hinsby, Deputy Chair of EuroGeoSurveys, Isaac Ojea Jimenez, Representative of the European Commission’s Sustainable Freshwater Management Unit and CIS Working Group Groundwater, Arthur Guischet, Secretary General of the European Water Association, and Elisabeth Lictevout, Director of IGRAC – International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre.
The research group presented to those present apolicy brief summarizing their findings and recommendations. The authors, Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky, Robert Lütkemeier, Dženeta Hodžić, David Kuhn, Linda Söller, and Anne Jäger, explain the importance of groundwater for European water management and the effects of climate change on groundwater, taking into account quantity, quality, and biodiversity.
The ISOE policy brief “Groundwater in Europe: Cornerstone for Resilience” highlights the regional and transboundary dynamics of infrastructure, water security, and social-ecological systems, and shows how telecoupling leads to unintended consequences such as environmental pollution, resource scarcity, and water-related risks. From the researchers’ perspective, the EU must take better account of such spatial relationships in the future in order to balance competing demands on groundwater resources and achieve a resilient and circular water management system.
The junior research group “regulate – regulation of groundwater in telecoupled social-ecological systems” led by ISOE is investigating current challenges in groundwater management in Europe against the backdrop of acute drought, qualitative pollution, increasing conflicts, and complex institutional frameworks. The team of scientists from the natural and social sciences is developing solution strategies for the sustainable use of groundwater as a resource at various levels of governance.
The junior research group is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the program “Research for Sustainable Development (FONA)”. The regulate project is part of the funding measure “SOEF – Social-ecological Research” in the funding area “Junior Research Groups in Social-Ecological Research”. Research and project partners are the RPTU Kaiserslautern Landau, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, and Trier University, Governance and Sustainability Lab.
The junior research group regulate investigates challenges in the management of groundwater in Europe against the background of acute drought, conflictuality and the complexity of institutional frameworks.
What impact does climate change have on our water resources? Is water scarcity also a threat in Germany? What challenges does the water industry face?
Go to Topic Page
