Eight Dutch Projects Receive €2.3 Million Funding to Enhance Water Security in EU’s ‘Water4all’ Program

Eight Dutch Projects Receive €2.3 Million Funding to Enhance Water Security in EU’s ‘Water4all’ Program

(IN BRIEF) Eight Dutch projects have secured funding under the EU’s ‘Water4all’ program, with over €2.3 million invested, €1.6 million of which is co-funded by Dutch ministries and NWO, and €700,000 by the European Commission. The projects focus on improving water security by enhancing resilience and adaptation to hydroclimatic extreme events through research and innovative solutions. They aim to better understand hydrological processes, develop early-warning tools, and advance water resource management strategies to address emerging water-related challenges. The projects cover various aspects of water security, including landscape resilience, water harvesting, virus contamination prediction, groundwater management, climate extremes buffering, and multi-knowledge protocols for policy transformation.

(PRESS RELEASE) THE HAGUE, 15-Jan-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), announces that eight Dutch projects have received funding as part of the EU programme ‘Water4all.’ The Dutch participation in these projects totals over 2.3 million euros, with 1.6 million euros jointly funded by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality, and NWO, while 700,000 euros are funded by the European Commission.

Water security is crucial for ensuring sustainable access to quality water, protecting against water-borne pollution and disasters, and preserving ecosystems. The funded projects aim to enhance water security and resilience in the face of hydroclimatic extreme events through research and innovation.

The eight granted Dutch subprojects are as follows:

1. “Improving landscape resilience by integrating measures to adapt and mitigate hydrological extremes” (LandEx) – Led by Dr. Jantiene Baartman at Wageningen University & Research.
2. “A smart process for water harvesting from air and water distribution based on eco-friendly MOFs” (SWMOF) – Led by Prof. Sofia Calero at Eindhoven University of Technology.
3. “Towards an early-warning tool predicting enteric virus contamination in coastal watersheds” (PreVir) – Led by Dr. Miranda de Graaf at Erasmus UMC.
4. “Megadroughts in the Water towers of Europe – from process understanding to strategies for management and adaptation” (MegaWat) – Led by Prof. Walter Immerzeel at Utrecht University.
5. “Understanding and governing groundwater to reduce the risk of hydrological extremes” (Grounded-Extremes) – Led by Dr. Anne Van Loon at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
6. “Climate Extremes buffering through groundwater flow-based Managed Aquifer Recharge and Public Engagement” (ClimEx-PE) – Led by Dr. Katrin Merfeld at Utrecht University.
7. “Green adaptation pathways for resilient basin futures under increasing extreme floods and droughts” (GreenAdapt2Extremes) – Led by Dr. Marije Schaafsma at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
8. “Designing multi-knowledge protocols to transform transboundary policies for hydroclimatic extremes” (DEMOTAPE) – Led by Dr. Jeroen Warner at Wageningen University & Research.

These projects aim to provide knowledge, models, tools, and methodologies to address emerging water issues related to extreme events, contributing to improved water resource management and resilience.

About European Partnerships

The European co-funded partnerships are part of Horizon Europe, the European programme for research and innovation (2021-2027). The partnerships focus on complex societal challenges and aim at real impact. The calls resulting from the European partnerships lead to thematic research linked to the missions in the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant and the routes of the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA).

Media contact:

Belinda van der Gaag
Telephone number:+31 6 51 46 94 54
Email: b.vandergaag@nwo.nl

SOURCE: NWO