ClimEx-PE at CIAS 2024: La Muga MAR pilot targets flood–drought buffering and seawater intrusion control
At the Congreso Ibérico de Aguas Subterráneas (CIAS 2024) in A Coruña (25–27 September 2024), the University of Barcelona team presented “Ensayo piloto de mitigación de los eventos climáticos extremos mediante la promoción de la recarga de los acuíferos aluviales del río La Muga” (authors: Juan Fernando Rubilar Contreras, Diana Puigserver Cuerda, José María Carmona Pérez). The talk outlined a pilot Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) scheme on Catalonia’s La Muga River to help communities cope with hydro-climatic extremes—storing water from wet periods for dry spells—and to build a hydraulic barrier against coastal saltwater intrusion intensified by seasonal demand.
The pilot will operate an ASTR configuration (Aquifer Storage, Transfer & Recovery) without active recovery pumping, prioritizing aquifer replenishment and intrusion control. It includes two injection wells—one into the shallow unconfined alluvial aquifer and one into the deeper confined unit beneath an aquitard—and three observation piezometers up- and down-gradient to track water levels and quality. Source water will be tertiary-treated effluent from the Castelló d’Empúries WWTP, further polished in constructed lagoons and wetlands within Aiguamolls de l’Empordà Natural Park, providing nutrient removal via natural processes and boosting dissolved oxygen for environmental reuse.
What we’ll apply next
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Mitigating extremes: Use MAR to bank flood pulses and stabilize dry-season supplies, aligning with ClimEx-PE’s groundwater-centred adaptation goals.
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Quality by design: ASTR + wetland polishing offers layered treatment and monitoring concepts we can adapt in assessment and QA/QC workflows.
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Transferable workflow: Local diagnostics → site design and siting → instrumented monitoring → socio-economic and governance tools—a methodology reusable across basins.
Pilot objectives (from the authors)
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Quantify local aquifer parameters (hydraulic and quality) essential for NB-MAR design and performance.
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Develop a generalizable NB-MAR approach based on basin-scale assessment of extreme events and groundwater flow systems.
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Deliver decision-support tools for regulatory and catchment management contexts.
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Explore social and economic co-benefits from implementation.