Billions of people rely for their everyday existence on aquifers. The invisibility of these waters, however, poses formidable challenges for those who rely on them: locating, measuring and controlling aquifers is complex and precarious, yet of utmost importance for human survival in many parts of the world. The overall aim of the proposed project is to explore the vital connections between humans and aquifers in everyday life. Building on trans-disciplinary studies that consider water as the contested nexus of social and political affairs, this project explores groundwater as both mediating and generating diverse ‘groundwater practices’: as an invisible resource, groundwater requires visualization; as an underground supply, it calls for innovative extractive techniques; as a finite good, groundwater needs to be regulated and controlled; and as a practical everyday resource, it sustains irrigation, sanitation, and human consumption. Through ethnographic fieldwork in Atacama Desert of Northern Chile, this project will develop an analytical framework to understand how social relations are affected by various groundwater practices. The proposed research will explore such practices with a focus on the effects that the visualization of aquifers has on socio-economic and eco-political inequalities. Through transdisciplinary training at the Universidad Católica del Norte, I will strengthen methodological skills to study the groundwater practices of indigenous communities, hydro-geologists and state administrators. I will transfer the acquired skills to the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, where I will strengthen understandings of the dynamics among groundwater practices, power, and culture, providing trans-disciplinary input for policymakers engaged in the design and realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. Findings will be disseminated among policymakers, academics, and broader audiences concerned with environmental sustainability.

A4Life will quantify the potential of sand rivers in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide reliable water for farmer-led irrigation development (SDG 2), while recognizing the importance of preserving the natural ecosystems along sand rivers (SDG 6). Given the challenges associated with climate as well as socio-economic change, establishing this potential is urgent. These findings can help government agencies and development banks make evidence-based decisions about critical investments to support resource-poor households in African drylands. At least 1 million households might benefit and strengthen their resilience (SDG 13). A4Life thus paves ways for inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development in fragile African landscapes.

There is an immense potential for clean energy harnessing in the oceans, enormous volumes of water are put in motion every day due to the tidal effect. However, the space-time distribution of this energy has made the exploration of useful energy production a challenge not-yet-achieved. A novel method is introduced hereby based on water hammer theory. The breakthrough of this new approach consists of enabling the mechanical storing of tidal energy with no need of further energy conversions. The quasi-unlimited energy source provided by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun over the oceans will be finally mastered.