UBITECH has actively participated in the kick-off meeting, in Nieuwegein, Netherlands (October 8-9, 2015) of the SUBSOL research project, officially started on September 1st, 2015. The project is funded by European Commission under Horizon 2020 Programme (Grant Agreement No. 642228) and spans on the period September 2015 – August 2018. SUBSOL targets at introducing a new way of thinking in terms of water resources management, promoting the sustainable development of coastal areas worldwide.
Coastal areas are the most productive and economically dominant regions of the world. The high water demand in these regions, however, puts tremendous pressure on their freshwater resources and ecosystems. This leads to problems like seasonal water shortage, saltwater intrusion, and disappearance of wetlands. Building on national, regional and European research and innovation programs, in the past five years, a set of innovative, practical concepts have been developed for protection, enlargement and utilization of freshwater resources in coastal areas. These subsurface water solutions (SWS) combine innovations in water well design and configuration, allowing for advanced groundwater management, and maximum control over freshwater resources. SWS have been successfully piloted by public-private partnerships. These full-scale pilots have demonstrated SWS capacity to support sustainable freshwater supply in coastal areas, energy reduction, food production, and financial savings.
In SUBSOL, UBITECH is responsible for designing and deploying the IT infrastructure in the Greek Pilot at the coastal site of the Schinias Natural Park as well as contributing in the development of the SUBSOL online platform targeted for sharing experiences and outcomes with stakeholder groups, that will be linked to existing networks, including EIP on Water.
