On 20 May, partners within the seminal Project RESources in Coastal groundwater Under hydroclimatic Extremes (RESCUE), funded by Water 4 All and co-funded by the European Union, held a Town Hall Event, kindly hosted by the OFF-SOURCE COST Action at its Final Conference, which took place from 18 – 20 May at the beautiful Villa Bighi in Malta. The event was an excellent opportunity to bring together the international offshore freshened groundwater (OFG) community across three days, that welcomed 83 participants from 33 countries.
The first two days of the Final Conference were packed with talks and presentations on the growing understanding of offshore freshened groundwater systems and emerging approaches for offshore groundwater exploration from across the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Black Sea, Ross Sea, and the New England continental shelf. Presentations explored hydrogeology, sedimentology, groundwater dating, climatic influences, and the role of submarine structures in shaping offshore aquifers, and included talks and abstracts from RESCUE, Claudia Bertoni (University of Trieste), Angelo Camerlenghi, Cristina Corradin, Michela Giustiniani, and Emma Mazzotta (National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS), Elizabeth Quiroga (Ruden AS), Jordan Phethean (University of Derby) and Aaron Micallef (University of Malta).
Above left to right: Angelo Camerlenghi, Jordan Phethean (right), and Cristina Corradin
Above left to right: Elizabeth Quiroga, Claudia Bertoni and Michela Giustiniani
Above: Jordan Phethean presented a RESCUE poster and the North Sea Case Study on the last day of the Conference.
The last day of the Conference saw RESCUE hold a series of presentations, moderated by Sophie Burton Pogledic (Communications – OGS), during which the team provided an overview of all research activities and economic, legal and communicative aspects as advertised in advance:
- OFG & RESCUE Project objectives – Claudia Bertoni (University of Trieste – UNITS)
- Northern Adriatic Case Study – Angelo Camerlenghi (OGS)
- The North Sea Story – Jordan Phethean (University of Derby – UoD)
- Legal Implications – Emma Mazzotta (OGS)
- Economic Implications – Elizabeth Jordan (Ruden AS)
- Geophysical Prospecting With CSEM Technique – Sebastiano D’Amico (University of Malta – UM)
- Communication Activities – Sophie Burton Pogledic (OGS)
Above: Sophie Burton Pogledic and Emma Mazzotta
The three year-long RESCUE Project, which began in March 2024 and ends in 2027, aims to build knowledge on offshore and deep onshore low salinity aquifers in European coastal areas, to evaluate novel freshwater resources, and help secure a steady supply of water to both population and industry, in times of hydroclimatic extremes. In this context, RESCUE also aims to connect with other ‘sister’ projects, including the OFF-SOURCE COST Action, which kindly gave RESCUE partners the opportunity to appear in its session in Marrakech.
Led by UNITS and with a consortium that includes OGS, Ruden AS, University of Derby and University of Malta, RESCUE’s objective is to help establish the foundations for the evaluation of new resources for local and regional policy makers, while the global applicability of the outputs will allow upscaling to Europe-wide or other large areas worldwide, where water is needed.
