Groundwater Evolutions and resilience of Associated biodiversity – Upper Rhine

Providing key data on the impact of climate change on the Rhine’s aquifer for water and environmental actors, decision-makers or users on the Upper Rhine The aquifer aquifer is a very important groundwater resource (65 to 80 billion m³). It is crucial for a wide range of uses, including drinking water supply, and plays an important role in the biodiversity of related ecosystems. The effects of climate change on groundwater levels are diverse and the assessment of their effects poses a scientific challenge. The GRETA project will provide key knowledge of the effects of climate change on water resources and related ecosystems to all water and environmental actors, decision makers and users of the Upper Rhine region. The GRETA project partners will contribute to the progress of scientific work (including artificial intelligence) and will provide decision support, applicable to and by local actors in the region. For this reason, the GRETA project team will develop a set of hydrodynamic modelling tools necessary for the sustainable water management of the Rhenish aquifer and provide knowledge on the relationship between groundwater and ecosystems, with an assessment of their vulnerability to current and future climates. Firstly, the first part of the programme characterises the development of groundwater using classical and innovative methods (artificial intelligence). It initiates Franco-German cooperation from the start of the programme and enables the exchange of available data and the comparison and adaptation of methodological approaches. In a second step, additional modelling tools are developed for a better understanding of groundwater resources at various scales (spatial, temporal), which also includes the calculation of simulations of the development of these resources under the influence of climate change, especially in drought periods. The integration of climate change, with scenarios and forecast horizons up to the year 2100, is a cross-programme topic. Finally, the links between groundwater and ecosystems at the level of the Upper Rhine will be assessed. The link with the results of the previous steps will provide information on the threat to biodiversity in this area. In addition, detailed studies will be carried out to assess interrelationships at local level by instrumenting and monitoring selected pilot sites and by integrating innovative approaches. After the completion of the GRETA project, the developed instruments for the collection of water resources and biodiversity, including climate change, will be published and accessible to the water and environmental actors of the area, based on scientific publications and with the help of presentation materials to the general public.The modeling system for the Upper Rhine will be reviewed in particular by the LOGAR network – cross-country organisation for groundwater protection on the Rhine – and can then be adapted locally.