Heat waves and droughts will happen more often in the future, threatening agricultural activities such as animal husbandry in the Upper Rhine region. The groundwater level decreases and the issue of water availability becomes dire. This is why the Water group plans to select a group of 30 farms across the region (15 in France, 15 in Germany) to diagnose their water consumption with the help of the diagnosis tool MAESTR’EAU (French for “Controlling and Sustainability for Water through the Stocking, Processing, Recycling of Water and the Analysis of its Uses”), which will need to be adapted, completed and translated for the different partners. The tool will be tested on summer and winter periods, while also tracking in parallel the water quality between the seasons.

The problematic of farms located in mountainous regions will also be a focus point of the group. Many farms can be found in the Vosges or Black Forest mountains and are especially prone to water problems in dry summers, since they usually rely exclusively on local water sources. Practical solutions fitted for all types of farms should then be offered for the whole region through technical data sheets and workshops.