COST action (OFF-SOURCE, CA21112)- Offshore Freshened Groundwater: An unconventional water resource in coastal regions?

Freshwater resources in coastal regions are under enormous stress due to population growth, pollution, climate change and political conflicts, and many coastal cities have already suffered extreme water shortages. OFF-SOURCE will address if and how offshore freshened groundwater (OFG) – groundwater stored in the sub-seafloor with a total dissolved solid concentration below that of seawater - can be used as an unconventional source of freshwater in coastal regions. Specifically, the Action will identify where OFG is found in waters of COST Member Countries and in which volumes, delineate the most appropriate approaches to characterise OFG, identify the most cost-effective strategy to utilise this resource, and assess the environmental and legal challenges to sustainable OFG use. These activities will be carried out by a new scientific, gender-balanced and inclusive network of experienced and early-career scientists and stakeholders from diverse and complementary scientific disciplines. Such a network will foster cross­disciplinary and inter-sectoral interaction between currently isolated fields of research to reduce the gap between science, policy making and society. There are five different working groups (WGs) that aim for the critical tasks of this action: Assessment (WG1), Characterization (WG2), and Utilization (WG3) of OFG, the Challenges faced by the community (WG4), as well as Training and Dissemination of up-to-date knowledge about OFG (WG5). This interaction will foster new ideas and concepts that will lead to breakthroughs in OFG characterisation and exploitation, translate into future market applications, and deliver recommendations to support effective resource management. By providing high quality training opportunities for early career investigators, particularly from less research intensive countries, the Action will develop a pool of experts to address future scientific challenges related to OFG.