Description
Arid Mediterranean islands retain a wealth of traditional water management techniques applied for centuries to wisely manage scarce water resources such as small reservoirs, wells, cisterns built in houses’ basements, etc. Among the various techniques, small stone-built weirs along the riverbeds of ephemeral streams, were of common practice, with the roots of this practice lost in time. The purpose of these semi-permanent structures was to reduce water velocity and collect small amounts of water that could later be used for irrigation.
However, stone-built weirs on the riverbeds of ephemeral streams can provide several other services which have become all the important under climate change scenaria. These are the creation of small biodiversity hot spots by creating shallow ponds in arid island systems, thus creating suitable habitats for many flora and fauna species, especially during the dry periods the increase of water percolation and the enrichment of the aquifers by reducing flow velocity and allowing more water to penetrate the soil, hence contributing to drought and erosion mitigation and flood risk reduction.
The Med-RESET project aims to reintroduce the traditional practice of constructing stone-built weirs on ephemeral streams in arid Mediterranean islands as a green infrastructure for aquifer enrichment, flood and drought risk reduction and biodiversity enhancement. It will do this by constructing a network of 50 stone-built weirs on the ephemeral stream of ‘Mavroudi’ on the Cycladic Island of Ios, Greece.
The project will have an impact on both a local and Mediterranean scale. Locally, it will directly enhance the aquifer and biodiversity of the watershed, engage the local community in support of the interventions and the wise use of freshwater, and provide the Municipality of Ios with the tools to expand the network of weirs. On a national and Mediterranean level, the project will expand knowledge on the impact of stone-built weirs on ephemeral streams on biodiversity and the aquifer, as well as their potential for flood, drought, and erosion risk reduction. It will also train national stakeholders on their construction and promote the results through a national workshop and an international conference.
