Multidisciplinary Assessment of Nature-Based Strategies to Address Groundwater Overexploitation and Drought Risk in Medina Del Campo Groundwater Body
About this book chapter
Five decades of intensive groundwater exploitation have brought important economic, social and environmental changes in Medina del Campo Groundwater Body in Spain. Declining piezometric levels have worsened water quality, increased the costs of water supply and abstraction, and drained connected wetlands and rivers. This book chapter presents the different methods and tools developed to assess the impacts and effectiveness for adaptation to droughts of the selected NAS strategies in biophysical, economic and social terms.
Important progress has been achieved on understanding and modelling the aquifer-system dynamics and functioning. First, geological and geophysical data analysis, debugging and integration have provided a basis for constructing a set of geological models of the MCGWB. Second, water balance components need to be updated through a deeper analysis of the recharge and groundwater abstractions (pumping). Third, a trend analysis of critical groundwater-related ecosystem services (GRES) and piezometric levels points at groundwater abstraction reductions as the most effective measure for a widespread recovery of the groundwater levels and storage. Fifth, the proposed managed artificial recharge would have limited effects on the recovery of the surface water bodies and no effect on the groundwater bodies. Sixth, the environmental reconstruction from a sedimentary record of the main wetland bed (Lagunas Reales) provides a reference knowledge base to understand the system response to human and climate changes. Finally, different barriers for design and implementation of NAS strategies have been identified and evaluated. Particularly, the lack of effective interaction mechanisms among the different actors involved/interested in the process could play a key role in the future
Part of the book series: Greening Water Risks. Natural Assurance Schemes
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Authors
Beatriz Mayor, África de la Hera-Portillo, Miguel Llorente, Javier Heredia, Javier Calatrava, David Martínez, Marisol Manzano, María del Mar García-Alcaraz, Virginia Robles-Arenas, Gosia Borowiecka, Rosa Mediavilla, José Antonio de la Orden, Julio López-Gutiérrez, Héctor Aguilera-Alonso, Laura Basco-Carrera, Marta Faneca, Patricia Trambauer, Tiaravanni Hermawan, Raffaele Giordano, Eulalia Gómez, Pedro Zorrilla-Miras, Marta Rica, Laura Vay, Félix Rubio, Carlos Marín-Lechado, Ana Ruíz-Constán, Fernando Bohoyo-Muñoz, Carlos Marcos, and Elena López Gunn
Citation
Mayor, B. et al. (2023). Multidisciplinary Assessment of Nature-Based Strategies to Address Groundwater Overexploitation and Drought Risk in Medina Del Campo Groundwater Body. In: López-Gunn, E., van der Keur, P., Van Cauwenbergh, N., Le Coent, P., Giordano, R. (eds) Greening Water Risks. Water Security in a New World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25308-9_11
Keywords
Natural assurance value
Drought management
Groundwater
Managed aquifer recharge (MAR)
Crop change
Nature-based Solutions
Integrated Water Resources Management
Water Security