OurMED: Sustainable water storage and distribution in the Mediterranean

OurMED is an R&D project, funded by the European Commission through the Prima program. This initiative is an appendix for the Mediterranean regions in Horizon Europe, the European Commission’s innovation program.

The Xylem Vue powered by GoAigua platform, and specifically its Unified Network Management and Early Warning System applications, has been deployed as part of the OurMED project to respond to the urgent need for more comprehensive management of water storage and distribution in the Mediterranean region, considering the natural resources and engineered infrastructure over the short and long-term horizons. A series of pilot projects will be carried out in different regions in several countries (Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia, Turkey), including the Spanish city of Valencia, where Idrica is headquartered.

The Mediterranean Region has a unique society, natural environment and biodiversity, and climate variability. However, it is experiencing swift population growth, water scarcity, increasing anthropogenic pressures, and rapid climate change. This results in intensified water demand through increased irrigation and water consumption, severely threatening socio-economic stability and ecosystem integrity.

In alignment with this challenge and PRIMA’s objectives on water management, the OurMED Project intends to develop integrated, holistic water management at various levels, catering for multi-sectorial requirements and avoiding conflicts between domestic/industrial water use, food production, and ecosystem needs.

The OurMED project is a new vision of fair, balanced and co-designed water storage and distribution management in the Mediterranean region including stakeholder perceptions and benefiting from technologically advanced monitoring techniques, smart-model predictions, optimization, and digital transformation capabilities.

Through this project, OurMED also aims to reinforce short-term water storage, distribution forecasting and long-term water management.

The Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector (EMWIS) is a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership initiative. It is in charge of impact maximization, stakeholder engagement and exploitation in the OurMED project.