A fresh look at protecting coastal water resources

Europe’s coastal freshwater resources are under intense pressure, with sea level rise and  overexploitation leading to salinization of many coastal aquifers across the EU. The team behind the EU-LIFE FRESHMAN project has developed an innovative technique to protect coastal aquifers from salinization, while also increasing the volume of readily available freshwater. The technique is based on managed aquifer recharge on top of the aquifer, enhanced by brackish water abstraction at the bottom. The main results of the project have just been published in EU Research: Summer 2025 vol. (42), pp. 40 - 43.