Pollution of aquifers and surface waters (estuaries, lakes, wetlands) from agricultural sources is especially frequent in areas of intensive agriculture and livestock activity. The problem mainly arises from the concurrent effects of low efficiency in the use of both nutrients and irrigation water.
 
NPP-SOL project, funded by PRIMA Programme, integrates site-specific best management practices (SSBMP) and Pollution-Preventing Technologies (PPTs) to improve soil, water, fertilizers and crop management with site-tailored and affordable-cost technologies to prevent natural bodies pollution.
 
Both SSBMP and PPTs aim at intercepting and removing Non-Point Source pollutants (NPS) before reaching the groundwater and surface water bodies. Common to all the adopted methodologies-technologies will be their sustainability, economic efficiency, and adherence to circular economy approach.
 
Technologies such as Bioreactors and Constructed Wetlands will be set up to remove nutrients and pesticides from surface runoff and/or drainage water coming from agricultural fields. Anaerobic Digestors will treat livestock slurries before spreading them to the soil.
Modelling Tools will be developed by integrating:

1) the agro-hydrological model FLOWS (FLOws of Water and Solute transport in heterogeneous agricultural and environmental systems) for predicting water and pollutants fluxes in agricultural systems and
2) the bio-economic model DAHBSIM (Dynamic Agricultural Household Bio-economic SImulation Model) to analyze farm objectives and resources allocation patterns related to economic, production (including livestock), and consumption decisions.
 
Technical Capacity Building assets of technicians from key stakeholders guarantee the application and spreading of the NPP-SOL outputs, the monitoring of the effectiveness of applied technologies and the maintenance and fine-tuning over time.
 
NPP-SOL is implemented in four Case Studies (Israel, Italy, Morocco and Spain).