Overcoming Barriers: Comporta 3rd Community of Practices Workshop generates solutions to build trust in Alternative Water Resources

The MARCLAIMED project successfully held its third 3rd Community of Practice (CoP) workshop for Demo Case 2 in Comporta, Portugal, on December 5th, 2025, taking a significant step toward addressing the gap between technical innovation and social acceptance of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR).

Organized in the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), the session reunited with the Community of Practices (CoP) to expand upon the “Personas exercise” initiated in the 2nd workshop. The session focused on identifying and overcoming the specific barriers that prevent building trust and acceptability for Alternative Water Resources (AWR) in MAR operations.

During the collaborative session, participants analyzed barriers across four critical dimensions: Governance, Public/Private Relations, Decision-making, and Information & Knowledge. Using the pre-created Personas representing society, administration, and industry, stakeholders were challenged to identify the most relevant obstacles, selecting specific barriers that require short-term solutions versus those requiring medium-term strategies.

These findings set out the groundwork for a creative session aimed at developing solutions. Sector professionals engaged in a dynamic debate to co-create a strategic roadmap to tackle these barriers. For each proposed solution, the groups defined the necessary resources, accelerators, and milestones, directly addressing the “brakes” that often slow down the implementation of AWR and water resilience innovative approaches.

The workshop concluded with a technical update, where the research team presented the latest data analyses and the current status of the DS2/Comporta demo site. This combination of social science methodologies and technical reporting ensures that MARCLAIMED continues to foster a transparent environment, essential for the long-term sustainability of water reuse in the region.