PureCircles - PureCircles

In the Mediterranean Region, the increase in surface and ground-water exploitation depletes limited resources, which is, especially in densely populated areas, often combined with deteriorating water quality. This puts future agricultural productivity and safe water supply for the population at risk. n the Mediterranean, freshwater availability is put under increasing pressure by global warming, land use changes, and water abstraction. Moreover, deteriorating water and soil quality put agricultural productivity and safe water supply for the population at further risk and urgently demand sustainable solutions. PureCircles wants to realize such solutions at four Mediterranean study sites (2 in Europe and 2 in the Maghreb) by integrating water technology with agrotechnical setups and management strategies.

For the first time, we will demonstrate the power and effectiveness of a combination of agrophotovoltaics, hydroponics, smart irrigation and innovative water storage and treatment technology, all of which are intelligently linked and regulated through Artificial Intelligence (AI). Sophisticated, but robust technology (e.g., flexible greenhouse photovoltaics (PV), water-harvesting field PV-arrays, energy-efficient RO/NF treatment, AI-assisted farm management) will meet nature based and sustainable water treatment solutions (hydroponics, microbial bioremediation) and shall be assembled and activated dependent on need and framing conditions (financial resources, availability and quality of water, crop choice, weather forecast, etc.). The work plan proposed will provide and validate concepts and tools to buffer water availability between extreme weather events, reduce the net water extraction, unburden natural water bodies from nitrates, pesticides, salts and other pollutants, and at the same time, advance agroecological production sustainability.

The chosen multi-actor approach makes sure (i) ensures consideration of the various societal concerns and in-terests related to integrative solutions across the water-energy-nutrient nexus in agroecosystems, (ii) to com-prehensively assesses needs and possibilities for tech-nical and social innovations, and thus (iii) generates pos-itive impact on and across living labs, their regional con-text as well as national, Mediterranean and interna-tional level.. For this, the interface between practice and sci-ence is essential, making effective communication, mu-tual understanding and tailored dissemination key con-stituents of PureCircleswork programme and collabora-tion facilitating participative learning and transformative change.