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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-1378</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Managed Aquifer Recharge in Confined Multi-Layer Aquifers: A Scalable Framework for Drought Resilience in Central Europe</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Abdelrahman</surname>
<given-names>Abdelrahman Ahmed Ali</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Koch</surname>
<given-names>Hagen</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hossain</surname>
<given-names>Mobarok</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Heim</surname>
<given-names>Ronjon</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2404-1371</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hauke</surname>
<given-names>Clara</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3865-3715</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Engelhardt</surname>
<given-names>Irina</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Hydrogeology Department,   Institute of Applied Geosciences, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Adelphi research gGmbH, Berlin, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>09</day>
<month>04</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Abdelrahman Ahmed Ali Abdelrahman et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1378/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1378/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1378/egusphere-2026-1378.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1378/egusphere-2026-1378.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), particularly Aquifer Storage, Transfer and Recovery (ASTR), can enhance groundwater resilience in confined multi-layer aquifers under drought stress. We develop an integrated and scalable framework to assess ASTR feasibility by combining (i) meteorological and groundwater drought analysis using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI-12) and Standardized Groundwater Index (SGI), (ii) GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for recharge site suitability, and (iii) dynamic assessment of surface-water availability using ecological flow thresholds. Applied to the water-stressed Berlin-Brandenburg region, one of Germany&amp;rsquo;s driest areas, where water supply relies heavily on induced bank filtration and faces emerging deficits. Results show that groundwater levels closely follow climatic conditions, indicating that climate-based drought indices can guide timely ASTR operations. The MCDA identified 62.5 % of the area (2,154 km&amp;sup2;) as viable for ASTR. Flow-threshold analysis at 27 gauges showed that high-potential downstream sites could provide mean annual recharge volumes of 1.6&amp;ndash;4.3 Mm&amp;sup3;, offsetting 6&amp;ndash;79 % of local extractions. At the catchment scale, total mean annual available recharge is 18.2&amp;ndash;23.0 Mm&amp;sup3;. Literature-based cost estimates (&amp;euro;0.37&amp;ndash;0.51 m&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;sup3;) are substantially lower than regional drinking-water production costs (&amp;euro;1.80 m&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;sup3;), suggesting potential annual savings of &amp;euro;23&amp;ndash;41 million.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt</funding-source>
<award-id>DKKV-the WAX collection</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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