regulate – Sustainable Groundwater Management in Europe

The junior research group ‘regulate’, led by ISOE, investigates current challenges to Europe’s groundwater management against the background of acute drought conditions, ongoing pollution, increasing conflicts and complex institutional settings. The team of researchers from natural and social sciences develops strategies for sustainable management of groundwater on different governance levels.

Research approach

The scientists will use their research to generate new knowledge to better understand how groundwater bodies in Europe are impaired – from a hydrological, geographical, ethnological and ecological perspective. In this regard, the project investigates telecouplings, i.e., remote effects that lead to problems of quality and availability locally, but which originate in other regions due to socio-economic and political interdependencies. In these remote effects, the project focuses in particular on nitrate pollution and droughts and analyses conflicts, norms and values in dealing with the invisible resource groundwater. The junior research group works with stakeholders in case studies in Europe to generate new local knowledge and draw comprehensive conclusions for appropriate management. These conclusions have the potential to be applied in Europe as well as in other regions worldwide.

Background

Groundwater is the most important source of drinking water worldwide and a central resource for food production. As a habitat for special animal organisms, it is also characterised by a unique biodiversity. Despite their important role in ecosystem health and for human well-being, groundwater bodies are threatened by climate change, overuse and pollution. Although Europe has a comprehensive legal framework in the form of the Water Framework Directive, the goals of a good quantitative and chemical status by 2027 will probably not be achieved comprehensively. The reasons may be found in the interaction of regionally varying availability of groundwater, unsustainable practices of groundwater use and outdated rights of use.

Research and project partners

• University Koblenz Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences
• Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Physical Geography
• Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Trier University, Governance and Sustainability Lab

Practice partners

The junior research group follows a transdisciplinary research approach and thus collaborates with stakeholders from the water management sector, agriculture, nature conservation, industry and authorities on the local and European levels.

Funding 

The junior research group “regulate – regulation of groundwater in telecoupled social-ecological systems” 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”.