Maria Chiara Lippera
Contact
Researcher in Water Infrastructure Planning MULTISOURCE Project
Department Systemic Environmental Biotechnology (SUBT)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstraße 15
04318 Leipzig, Germany
tel: +49 341 6025 1023
maria-chiara.lippera@ufz.de
Let's connect via: Research Gate, Linkedin

Field and research interests
- Development of methodologies and tools for water infrastructures planning in sustainable water management of urban and peri-urban environments
- Improvement of operational efficiency in managed aquifer recharge (MAR) sites and development of tools to support their implementation in Europe
- Innovative strategies for water resources management in climate change conditions
Professional Experience and Education
since 05/2023
Researcher
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig (Germany)
MULTISOURCE is an EU-funded project that will facilitate the systematic, city-wide planning of nature-based solutions for urban water treatment, storage, and reuse
2019 - 2023
Early Stage Researcher
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig (Germany)
MARSoluT Project- Managed Aquifer Recharge Solutions
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Innovative Training Network (ITN)
2022
Visiting PhD Student
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa (Italy)
Field-work activities at the infiltration site in Suvereto (Italy)
2018- 2019
Research assistant
Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy)
SOWATCH project - Studies of adaptation strategies for water resources management in climate and social-economic change conditions
2015-
2017
Master Degree in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering
Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
2016- 2017
International Mobility Erasmus Programme
Water Management and Environmental Engineering Programme
BOKU University (Austria)
2012- 2015
Bachelor Degree in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering
Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Publication list
2024
- Lippera, M. C., Khurelbaatar, G., Despot, D., Kouyi, G. L., Rizzo, A., & Friesen, J. (2024). Spatial-economic scenarios to increase resilience to urban flooding. Water Research X, 100284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2024.100284
- Lippera M. C. (2024) Advancing knowledge and prediction of physical clogging to enhance the long-term infiltration capacity of Managed Aquifer Recharge sites in response to accelerating water demand and scarcity. Dissertation, Media TUM online https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/?id=1715498
2023
- Lippera, M. C., Werban, U., and Vienken, T. (2023). Application of physical clogging models to Managed Aquifer Recharge: a review of modelling approaches from engineering fields. Acque Sotterranee-Italian Journal of Groundwater, 12(3), 9-20 ⇒ https://doi.org/10.7343/as-2023-681
- Lippera, M.C., Werban, U., Rossetto R., and Vienken, T. (2023) Understanding and predicting physical clogging at managed aquifer recharge systems: A field-based modeling approach. Advances in Water Resources, 177, 104462 ⇒ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2023.104462
2022
- Lippera, M.C., Werban, U. and Vienken, T. (2022): Improving clogging predictions at managed aquifer recharge sites: a quantitative assessment on the vertical distribution of intrusive fines. - Hydrogeology Journal, 2022, 15 p. ⇒ doi.org/10.1007/s10040-022-02581-7
2019
- Cesari De Maria S., Rienzner M., Lippera M.C., Facchi A., and Gandolfi C. (2019) Prediction of climate change effects on irrigation water requirements in the Lombardia plain. Conference Paper: Convegno in memoria del Professor Giovanni TournonVolume: Idronomia Montana 36
Conferences
2022
- Lippera, M.C., Werban, U., Vienken, T., "Detection of clogging factors to enhance MAR operations" Oral presentation at Achieving Sustainable Groundwater Management: Promising Directions and Unresolved Challenges (Sustain2022), 06-08 Oct. 2022, Valencia (Spain)
- Lippera, M. C., Werban, U., Rossetto, R., and Vienken, T., "Development of a novel approach to assess the risk of physical clogging at managed aquifer recharge sites" EGU General Assembly 2022, 23–27 May 2022, Vienna (Austria) https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5036, 2022.
2021
- Lippera, M.C., Werban, U., Vienken, T., “Development of modelling tools to predict physical clogging and enhance groundwater management” Oral presentation at the XV National Congress of the Italian Geological Society GIT-Geosciences and Information Technologies, 21st December 2021, Ripatransone (Italy)
- Lippera, M.C., Werban, U., Grün, H., Vienken, T., “Towards a better understanding of physical clogging processes encountered at MAR sites” Poster presentation at 48th IAH Conference “Inspiring Groundwater”, 5-10th Septemeber 2021, Brussels (Belgium) https://iah2021belgium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IAH-2021-Book-of-Abstracts.pdf
2019
- Lippera M.C., Cesari De Maria S., Rienzner M. and Gandolfi C. "Supporting policies for irrigation adaptation to climate change through distributed agro-hydrological model simulations" EGU General Assembly 2019, Vienna (Austria) https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2019/EGU2019-5921.pdf
Communication activities
- Seminar “Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR): Techniques to enhance groundwater quantity and quality” Webinar Groundwater: research and methodologies for the sustainable management of the resource organized by Italian National Research Council, Department of Earth System Sciences and Technologies for the Environment (CNR-IGAG), 15th March 2022, online.
- Lecture “Modelling for decision-support”, MARSoluT Workshop Modelling MAR – Challenges and Opportunities, 22nd February 2022, Faro (Portugal);
- Lecture “Introduction to Hydrogeology” at Technical University of Munich - TUM Campus Straubing, October 2020, Straubing (Germany)
- Lecture “Planning a field campaign”, MARSoluT Workshop Site Investigation and MAR Monitoring, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, July 2020, online.