Objectives
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OBJ1: Develop and apply a method to create vulnerability maps throughout a holistic assessment of coastal aquifers coupling the evaluation of AGL and SP in a single methodology to improve water governance aimed at early warning, prevention, and mitigation of groundwater quality degradation in the present and future conditions, accounting for impacts of CC and HEE.
OBJ2: Promote a paradigm shift in water management, through internet access to data and models, dissemination of management tools for planning and societal implication and their transfer to stakeholders.
OBJ3: Promote social awareness on the importance of groundwater and its sensitivity to CC and HEE from stakeholders and decision makers to end users.
The overall goal of DATASET is to develop an efficient tool to assist in the protection and regulation of water resources use and management in coastal aquifers, considering all dynamic conditions caused by the ongoing Climate Changes (CC) and more frequent Hydroclimatic Extreme Events (HEE).
Specifically, DATASET aims at achieving the following objectives:
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To reach these objectives, DATASET will be:
EASY
DATASET will retain the GIS overlay index structure with parameters, rates, and weights. The key features of the aquifers will be represented through thematic maps in raster format and then overlaid to gain vulnerability maps representing the spatial aggregation of weighted parameters.
OPEN
Data availability is a major drawback in Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment. DATASET aims to evaluate the suitability of continental and global scale models as potential input for Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment, reducing the dependence on local data.
reliable
To address model reliability and uncertainties, DATASET will address the weights and rates classification using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms trained and tested against water quality data.
FLEXIBLE
Using the DATASET index, operators will be able to choose whether to produce vulnerability maps only for Salinization Processes, only for Agricultural Leaching, or considering both, turning on/off specific parameters and choosing the correct sets of weights and rates.
DYNAMIC
Climate data from freely available datasets allow to forecast the impacts of Hydroclimatic Extreme Events on groundwater resources’ availability and quality. The DATASET approach aims at identifying those areas where to apply specific remediation actions to counteract negative impacts, even considering different land use scenarios.