Call: Thematic Area 1-Water Management in the Nexus

Water scarcity is a growing challenge in the Mediterranean, where agriculture accounts for 64–79% of freshwater withdrawals, particularly in southern and eastern regions (FAO 2016; Malek & Verburg 2018)15. Brackish water desalination offers a promising alternative to sustain agricultural production, especially for high-value crops and smallholder systems. However, costs, energy intensity, brine disposal, and limited integration with renewable energy and digital optimisation tools hinder adoption (Jones et al., 2019; IRENA, 2022)16.
This topic aims to improve the cost-effectiveness, environmental sustainability, and agricultural applicability of brackish water desalination systems, through solutions co-designed with farmers and adapted to local agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions. The use of digital monitoring and optimisation tools (e.g., IoT, Digital Twins, AI) is encouraged where this improves performance or reduces operating costs.

All solutions should comply with the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle under the EU Taxonomy Regulation, as amended by the Delegated Act of 4 July 2025. and ensure no harm to freshwater or marine ecosystems, biodiversity, or circular resource use, applying the “water efficiency first” principle of the European Water Resilience Strategy. Compliance with the DNSH principle will be verified by PRIMA during the project implementation, specifically at reporting time.

Solutions should be co-designed with relevant stakeholders — including farmers, water user associations, community organisations, and public authorities — to ensure they address practical needs and socio-cultural contexts.

Projects are expected to address at least three of the following activities:

• Develop and pilot decentralised; environmentally sustainable low-cost brackish water desalination systems specifically tailored for agricultural reuse.
• Test and validate renewable-energy-powered desalination units in different agro-ecological contexts, ensuring energy efficiency and seasonal adaptability
• Assess lifecycle impacts (environmental, economic, and social), including carbon footprint, soil health, cost–benefit analysis, and WEFE Nexus indicators.
• Produce guidelines and toolkits for the design, implementation, and scaling of sustainable desalination solutions for agricultural use, adaptable to various local contexts.

While emphasis may be placed on demonstration, projects must establish a clear foundation for replication and scaling across Mediterranean contexts. Proposals are expected to demonstrate economic and financial viability, including cost-effectiveness, affordability for smallholder and peri-urban farmers, and scalable business and financing models, with engagement of relevant market actors where appropriate.

In line with the Innovation Action award criteria, proposals will be assessed on the credibility of their market uptake and impact pathways, including the meaningful involvement of SMEs. Projects should also include an environmental impact assessment, with particular attention to brine management and ecosystem protection. In light of the specific aims and expected impacts of this topic, PRIMA encourages applicants to additionally include KPIs related to energy use, operational costs, brine management, and farm-level adoption, as these indicators can significantly strengthen monitoring and support the effective implementation of decentralised desalination solutions.

Proposals should adopt a Multi-Actor Approach (MAA)17, ensuring that all key actors—end users, practitioners, SMEs, technology providers, researchers, and competent authorities—are meaningfully involved throughout the entire project lifecycle. This includes the definition of needs, co-design of solutions, testing and validation in real contexts, interpretation of results, and formulation of recommendations. Living Labs18 are encouraged as a framework for participatory co-design and iterative adaptation.

Projects should ensure strong contributions from agronomy, water and resource management, socio-economics, and relevant Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). To promote anticipatory and responsible innovation, consortia are encouraged to apply the Societal Readiness Thinking Tool (Bernstein et al., Science & Engineering Ethics, 2022) to systematically consider societal needs, ethical dimensions, and adoption pathways throughout the project lifecycle. Projects should define and monitor relevant social and behavioural outcomes, including those linked to PRIMA KPI 6 (e.g., cooperative governance arrangements, social innovations, behavioural changes in irrigation and farming practices). SSH contributions must be clearly reflected in the work plan, stakeholder engagement, and impact pathways.