GOALS AND CONTEXT
The Laboratory of Radio-Analysis and Environment (LRAE) of the National Engineering School of Sfax (ENIS) is honoured to host the international colloquium “Impact of Human and Climate on water quality in arid and semi-arid areas” which will be held from 3 to 5 December 2015 in Sousse, Tunisia.
The event will offer the opportunity to bring together the community of Tunisian and International researchers, practitioners, institutions and government agencies concerned with water quality monitoring, assessment and management in arid and semi-arid regions.
This colloquium will provide a forum for networking and discussion, while also presenting new advances on scientific research related to the implication of water pollution in rural and urban areas.
Most of the Mediterranean rim countries are characterized by semi-arid climate and several also suffer regular water shortages aggravated by recurrent droughts with different degrees of frequency, intensity and severity. Therefore this fragile situation, with scarce and unevenly distributed freshwater resources, requires scientists, policy makers and civil society to act in a coordinated manner in order to tackle challenges posed by climate change, the growing demand for water in agricultural and urban development, as well as the expanding tourism industry in the Mediterranean basin. The LRAE has dedicated this conference to study this very important issue for arid and semi-arid zones. In these areas in fact water resources are submitted to climatic stress and anthropogenic pressures. In addition, in these regions water, considered as a non-renewable resource, is at the center of interactions between draught climate conditions and economic development. The scarcity of surface water oblige people to use groundwater resources, that are already limited and widely exploited to meet the growing demand. In addition, groundwater is often used without real awareness of its vulnerability (hydraulic head drops, quality deterioration...).
The event is framed within LRAE activities and the Marie Curie Marie Curie Actions fellowship project (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF n.327287) currently implemented at the National School of Engineering of Sfax (ENIS), Tunisia in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (UNIVE) in Italy.
Main Topics:
The following topics will be discussed during the colloquium:
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Anthropic impacts on groundwater quality in urban and rural areas (seawater intrusion- nitrate contamination)
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Climate Change impacts on water resources in arid and semi-arid regions
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Artificial recharge as a solution to water scarcity
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Integrated Water Resource Management as a tool to address water quality issues
Key dates:
Call for abstracts: 01 June 2015
Deadline for Abstract submission: tbc
Acceptance of abstracts: tbc
Language:
The official languages of the colloquium are English and French. Simultaneous translation will not be provided
