Deltares and ImaGeau sign agreement during visit French president Hollande to the Netherlands

Dutch water research institute Deltares and French groundwater monitoring company ImaGeau agreed to intensify their cooperation on monitoring salt intrusion in aquifers.

An agreement was signed by director Laurent Depraz (left) of ImaGeau and director Maarten Smit of Deltares (right) on 20 January in the National Maritime Museum, Amsterdan on January 20.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by French president François  Hollande (back left) and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (back right).

President Hollande was in The Netherlands for a one-day visit.

More fresh water for agriculture
Deltares and ImaGeau already work together within the Dutch climate adaptation research project Geohydrological opportunities fresh water supply (Go-Fresh) that studies options to increase fresh water supplies for agriculture.

For monitoring the salt concentrations in the groundwater, the Go-Fresh project uses the Subsurface Monitoring Device (SMD) developed by ImaGeau.

Online salinity measurements
ImaGeau's SMD measures the growth of the freshwater lens in the saline groundwater.

Conductivity varies in line with the salt levels in the groundwater and the SMD records these trends.

The measurements with high time and space resolutions - taken daily with a vertical accuracy of 10-20 cm - are sent directly to a website and can therefore be viewed online directly.

About Deltares
Deltares is an independent, institute for applied research in the field of water, subsurface and infrastructure. Throughout the world, The institute works globally on smart solutions, innovations and applications for people, environment and society. Its main focus is on deltas, coastal regions and river basins.

About ImaGeau
ImaGeau is small enterprise (Jeune Entreprise Innovante - JEI ) created in partnership with the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in 2008. Its focus is to develop and sell innovative technologies in the monitoring of aquifers

About Go-Fresh
Go-Fresh is part of the Dutch national research programme Climate changes Spatial Planning, aimed to improve the use of existing fresh groundwater resources and create new freshwater reserves, thereby increasing regional self-sufficiency and reducing dependence on external freshwater supply.
The project includes three field pilots conducted by a consortium involving Deltares, KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Alterra Wageningen UR, Acacia en de Hogeschool Zeeland.

This news item is based on an original press release published on the website of Deltares.
(top photo: Rene de Gilde)

Also read on this website on the Go-Fresh project:
● KWR's first operational Freshmaker stores fresh water in the ground, replacing salt water, 23 July 2013

More information
Deltares
Delft, the Netherlands
+31 (0)88 33 57 774
wwww.deltares.nl

Geohydrological opportunities fresh water supply (Go-Fresh) (mainly in Dutch)
www.go-fresh.info

Knowledge for climate research programme
Climate Proof Fresh Water Supply