Increasing groundwater storage and maintaining irrigation through managed aquifer recharge

Casas, J.D. Henao; Escalante, Enrique Fernández; Ayuga, F.

doi:10.1016/j.gsd.2022.100842

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…During dry hydrological years, such as 2004-2005, 2007-2008, and 2011-2012, water was not diverted to some of the MAR facilities in the LAGB due to low flows in the source rivers. Furthermore, MAR systems are not a panacea to water-related issues and can work best when accompanied by sound integrated management of water resources and other solutions, including the conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water [113], water demand control [61,88,114], multi-level governance, spaces that create trust among decision agents [61], and water reuse [115], among others.…”

Section: General Discussion and Outlookmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such an increase occurs despite lower average precipitation between 2004 and 2020 (378 mm year −1 ) compared with precipitation in the previous period, i.e., 1985-2003 (464 mm year −1 ). Henao Casas et al [88] proved that MAR is the only measure capable of improving the storage of the LAGB to the extent reflected in Figure 4. The DINA-MAR and MARSOL research projects [55,89] also demonstrated that multiple piezometers in Santiuste have an increasing trend, and farmers show a very favourable perception of MAR in terms of groundwater storage recovery.…”

Section: Groundwater Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Low-Regret Measure for Climate Change Adaptation: Insights from Los Arenales, Spain

Casas

Escalante²,

Gil³

et al. 2022

Water

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In view of heightened climate change (CC), adaptation strategies are imperative to diminish the impacts on social and environmental assets. Two approaches are commonly used to formulate adaptation measures, namely bottom-up and top-down, each with inherited limitations. A sound bridge between both approaches is low-regret adaptive measures, which result in win-win scenarios, as they provide solutions to current pressures and contribute to building CC adaptive capacity. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a term that includes a series of techniques that enhance groundwater storage for later use or environmental purposes. MAR is often mentioned in the literature as a CC adaptation measure. Nonetheless, few examples explicitly prove this point. We show through the Los Arenales MAR systems (Central Spain) that MAR is a low-regret CC adaptive measure. We evaluate a series of social and environmental challenges that MAR systems contribute to solving, as well as their attributes that diminish the expected impacts of CC in the study area. MAR in the Los Arenales groundwater body has resulted in an overall increase in groundwater levels; a reduction in groundwater pumping energy and costs and CO2 emissions; restoration of a surface water body; improvement in rural population indexes; and enhanced groundwater demand control and CC adaptive capacity through irrigation communities. To cope with CC, the Los Arenales MAR systems can be operated even if decreasing streamflow precludes the use of river water surpluses; they provide surface storage volume to mitigate flooding; and they decrease the impacts of droughts and water scarcity. This research proves that MAR is a water management tool capable of providing solutions to several pressures simultaneously in the present and future, an attribute particularly useful when dealing with adaptation gaps in developing countries, rural areas, or regions lacking long-term climatic data.

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Section: General Discussion and Outlookmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Groundwater Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Low-Regret Measure for Climate Change Adaptation: Insights from Los Arenales, Spain

Casas

Escalante²,

Gil³

et al. 2022

Water

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“…End-user participation also opens the door to citizen science and a more rigorous control and surveillance of water resources and the related infrastructure. A survey on monitoring methods and devices was conducted among consortium members of the MARSoluT project (marsolut-itn.eu), which gathers 10 institutions conducting MAR research across Europe and the Mediterranean region [83]. This survey revealed that monitoring in MAR engages predominantly with the saturated zone (lithosphere), followed by the unsaturated zone (pedosphere) and, to a minor extent, the climatological conditions (atmosphere).…”

Section: Final Use Of the Intentionally Recharged Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At least 28 manufacturers produced the devices utilized by the institutions of the MARSoluT consortium. This considerable number of manufacturers implies that the data collected at the levels of a single project or a consortium usually come in diverse formats, requiring the utilization of programs or manual procedures to integrate monitoring information [83]. In the future, formulating standards for data gathering and exchanging involving active participation from end-users and manufacturers could considerably improve syntactic and semantic interoperability [84,85] in MAR systems and ease operation.…”

Section: Final Use Of the Intentionally Recharged Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitored and Intentional Recharge (MIR): A Model for Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Guideline and Regulation Formulation

Escalante¹,

Casas

Sauto³

et al. 2022

Water

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Guidelines and regulatory frameworks for conducting managed aquifer recharge (MAR) are scarce worldwide compared to the countries where MAR projects operate. At the same time, guidelines and regulations are crucial to implementing MAR activities safely, respecting human health and the environment, and guaranteeing the sustainability of the intentional recharge. The present study aims to provide a conceptual model comprising the minimum elements to consider when drafting guiding and normative MAR documents. To this end, aspects discussed in nine guidelines were evaluated through a score that allowed their significance to be assessed. The authors also reviewed 22 regulations, guidelines, or MAR site operation rules to construct the monitored and intentional recharge (MIR) conceptual model. This effort was enhanced by active participation in the real drafting of two national regulating documents for MAR. The evaluation of aspects in the documents showed the importance of water reuse and risk and impact assessment. The MIR conceptual model comprises nine blocks that summarize the most important aspects to consider. This conceptual model, which guides MAR regulations in two countries, has great potential for application in different sites under diverse contexts.

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“…In particular, intensive groundwater use led to the degradation of numerous springs and wetlands (Llorente & Bejarano, 2018). To counter these effects, the Douro basin authority has implemented various corrective measures, including artificial recharge (Henao Casas, Fernández Escalante, & Ayuga, 2022; Henao Casas, Fernández‐Escalante, & Ayuga, 2022; Henao Casas, Fernández‐Escalante, Calero Gil, & Ayuga, 2022; Mayor, de la Hera‐Portillo, et al, 2021; Mayor, López Gunn, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling regional effects of artificial groundwater recharge in a multilayer aquifer characterized by perched water tables

Gómez‐Escalonilla,

Heredia,

Martínez‐Santos

et al. 2024

Hydrological Processes

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This paper presents an approach to estimate the effects of a managed recharge experiment in a multilayer aquifer characterized by the presence of perched water tables in the Medina del Campo groundwater body, Douro basin, central Spain. A numerical model was developed to evaluate the effect of artificial recharge on the shallow sector of a regional‐scale aquifer and on formerly active wetlands. The model was developed in the Visual MODFLOW Pro v.2011.1 environment in order to represent and analyse the regional impact of this artificial recharge event. Results suggest that the assumption of a single perched system may prove useful in regional contexts where data is limited. From a study site perspective, managed recharge is observed to increase shallow storage along the riverbanks, which is considered valuable for environmental purposes. However, downstream wetlands are unlikely to experience a significant recovery. Furthermore, only a small percentage of artificial recharge is expected to reach the deep regional aquifer. This method can be exported to settings characterized by the presence of perched aquifers and associated groundwater dependent ecosystems.

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Increasing groundwater storage and maintaining irrigation through managed aquifer recharge

Cited by 4 publications

References 49 publications

Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Low-Regret Measure for Climate Change Adaptation: Insights from Los Arenales, Spain

Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Low-Regret Measure for Climate Change Adaptation: Insights from Los Arenales, Spain

Monitored and Intentional Recharge (MIR): A Model for Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Guideline and Regulation Formulation

Modelling regional effects of artificial groundwater recharge in a multilayer aquifer characterized by perched water tables

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