Advanced Study Course “MAR: Water Quality and Reactive Modelling” in Barcelona, Spain

Felix Barquero took part in a 3-day course in the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona in the first week of November. The seminar was about Managed Aquifer Recharge modeling with a specific focus in water quality and pharmaceuticals fate. It was held by different specialists in the field of aquifer recharge who presented the fundamental MAR techniques and different examples of recharge schemes in the world. A complete day was used to put hands on the model iPht3D, developed by Prof. Olivier Atteia. Prof. Atteia himself and Dr. Henning Prommer were in charge for the modeling section of the course. IPht3D is a graphical user interphase that couples MODFLOW (flow transport) and MT3D / PHT3D (mass transport). The model is a useful tool to estimate the fate of different contaminants in the saturated medium. On the third day of the course a visit to the MAR infiltration basin Sant Vicenç dels Horts, 15 km from Barcelona city, was planned. This plant infiltrates water from the Llobregat River. It is a relative small infiltration area, which enriches the groundwater with 50 hm³ per year. The INOWAS junior research team was presented to the various participants of the course and new contacts were built for possible future cooperation.