The quality of groundwater will be measured in real time with the aim of preventing the impact of climate change and human activity, in a project developed in Portugal and expected to spread throughout the world.
I call SEA2PROTECTthe project led by the Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT) of the Universidade Nova received a Financing of more than four million eurosin the field of Research and Innovation Actions of the Horizon Europe Program.
The digital artificial intelligence tool, coordinated by FCT researchers Ana Pereiro and João Araújo, will receive information in real time from sensors placed in places of risk, so that groundwater throughout the European Union can be protected with them, explains the FCT in a statement. .
The objective is support policy makers in the fight against water quality degradation“, it says in the document. Speaking to Agência Lusa, researcher Ana Pereiro says that in the future the tool may be used not only in the European Union but also in countries around the world.
The project, he explains to Lusa, has just been approved and will take place in 2024. In the next two years, by 2026, it will be placed sensors to analyze the water, in seven locations, two of them in Portugal, one in the Lima River and another in Frielas, in the waters of the Atlantic Tagus, which serve municipalities in the Lisbon metropolitan area.
Other sensors will be placed in Italy, Spain, Holland, Tunisia and South Africa, in order to receive varied information, linked to climate change or pollution.
In Frielas, the sensor will identify contaminants with pesticides or antibiotics” and in the Lima estuary the objective is identical, says Ana Pereiro, principal investigator at the University.
Another important part of MAR2PROTECT is related to climate change and the lack of waterwhich leads to rivers having a lower flow and therefore suffering an increase in the amount of sea water.
The sensors, summarize, will quantify in real time the quality of these waters, the quality of the aquifersit is so prevent contamination and increase quality. Those responsible for the project, while placing the sensors, will have meetings with the local “actors”.
The sensors, according to Ana Pereiro, will be of various types, with the capacity to identify different situations at the same time.
Ana Pereiro points out that the European Union is very committed to measures that increase the quality of groundwater and assures that MAR2PROTECT, whose main objective is prevention, “It will be useful for decision-making by political agents”.
MAR2PROTECT seeks a strong involvement of national and European legislators who, in collaboration with different experts, ensure the reinforcement of European policies and collaboration in the implementation of policies to prevent groundwater pollution”, says Ana Pereiro, quoted in the notice.
The document warns that climate and global change have “a serious impact on human health and well-being, as well as on food security and biodiversity”and that the “zero pollution targets set for 2030 by the European Union can only be achieved if urgent action is taken.”
Source: Observadora
