Unravelling the role of groundwater to quantify the distribution and severity of drought events in the Dinkel area, the Netherlands.

The recent 2018-2020 drought events that occurred in the Netherlands were considered as extremes, creating great social and economic damage in agriculture production. Such events focused researchers’ and practitioners’ attention on how the Dutch water systems behave during drought events. Developing adapted pathways for future agricultural and water resources management need better insights into the water-soil-plant-atmosphere system.

During the 2018-2020 drought events, most of the damage was directly related to declines in groundwater levels. Groundwater shortages caused severe damage in peatland and brook ecosystems. Groundwater is used by two main users: natural users and human users (including pumping activities for domestic, agricultural, and other purposes). On the other hand, during drought events, groundwater resources can support to mitigate the water stress. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the spatial-temporal dynamics of the groundwater and quantify the role of the groundwater resources in managing drought damages.

The potential study area is the Dinkel area,  a transboundary area between the Netherlands and Germany. It will be decided later whether to work on the entire area or only the Dutch-part of it.