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In July 2023, the project titled Detection and Monitoring of Underground Water in Malta using satellite images (DEMUWA) financed by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (now ) was successfully completed.

The management of groundwater resources, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, forms a crucial component of national policy. Mediterranean countries are experiencing crises in groundwater availability as a result of a number of economic, social and environmental conditions. Therefore, efficient management of groundwater resources is dependent on accurate knowledge and understanding of the behaviour and variability of the aquifers. Such knowledge is often lacking or limited to sparse and highly localised information.

DEMUWA, a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary, geophysical and hydrological investigation on groundwater proposed to use satellite data with additional physical constraints, to improve continuous monitoring of underground water reservoirs.

In particular, the project aimed at designing a potential monitoring system to focus on the upper water table within the Maltese islands. One of the key benefits of the project is to the agricultural sector by ensuring the establishment of low-cost and effective monitoring system to monitor the quantitative status of groundwater bodies used for irrigation (especially in the northern part of the Maltese archipelago), thus ensuring that problems are identified as early as possible to enable policymakers to address them on time.

Changes in the water content, for example, the replenishing and depletion of aquifers due to seasonal effects or anthropogenic intervention, will result in changes that, in principle, can be measured in an automated manner, complementing on-site, single-measurement investigations.

Research and development in the downstream Earth Observation (EO) sector is key to achieving a reliable and cost-effective monitoring system and within this project, we used Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) utilising Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR and InSAR) onboard satellites (e.g. Sentinel-1) to provide detailed estimates of vertical ground motion variations through time. The final output can be used as a key element for the planning of risk mitigation activities. The project placed strong emphasis on capacity building and dissemination across government and other stakeholders to achieve a critical mass of knowledge within the EO sector. In this regards, a hands-on session was organised trying to equip public administrations and stakeholders to learn about and implement such tools in daily monitoring of the resources.

The final event was held in July at the Hilton hotel and was addressed by (PI of the project), (Pro-Rector at University of Malta), Dr Micheal Quinton (Executive Officer, Space Engagement and Programmes, Xjenza Malta), Mr Manuel Sapiano (CEO, Energy and Water Agency).

Other participant to the project were Prof. Pauline Galea, and , , , Dr Luca Piroddi (, University of Malta).

Researchers from Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV, Rome) also took part in the event.