Groundwater Protection and Management (IWRM)

Contamination is the worst way of wasting of water. Therefore, the protection of groundwater against contamination is a major global issue. The great variety of chemical and microbial contaminants and the complexity of transport and attenuation processes determine a great variety of scientific research questions of high practical relevance. The focus of our research is on particulate and particle-bound contaminants, including pathogenic microorganisms.

In arid zones, not only water quality, but also the allocation of sufficient water quantities represents a major challenge. This is where Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) comes into play. This approach considers all available water resources, including wastewater and brackish water, and all types of water demand and utilization, such as drinking water and agricultural irrigation requirements. The goal is to prioritize competing water demands and to optimize water distribution and management accordingly, in order to be able to deliver water for all relevant demands at sufficient quantity and quality in a sustainable way and at affordable costs.

Origin-pathway-target model for groundwater protection. Conceptually, general resource protection is differentiated from the protection of a specific drinking water source (spring or well) (Goldscheider 2009).