Artificial Recharge--State of the Art: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The largest potential reservoir for the storage of potable water is that which exists in the unsaturated zone. Utilization of this space for the storage and retrieval of potable water is a multifaceted problem which requires application of the best talent from the scientific community. Considerable research has taken place in artificial recharge since the last international symposium on the subject at Reading University, England, in 1970. An increasing demand for economic water supplies created by larger populations indicates a need for much greater research efforts in the near future. Artificial recharge has many similarities to liquid-waste disposal through deep wells. In both, the problem is to place liquid into a permeable lithologic unit at an economic rate, to predict movement, and the chemical reactions and physical changes that take place while the liquid is in the reservoir. Differences between the two operations are principally in the type of fluid injected and the ultimate objective. In artificial recharge the objective is to store and retrieve water of good quality; in waste disposal the objective is to store permanently water of objectionable quality. In both artificial recharge and liquid-waste storage, the nature of the storage must be known, particularly that of the unsaturated zone. The techniques of investigation for recharge and waste disposal are generally the same. Water commonly is recharged by surface spreading through basins, induced recharge from adjacent streams and lakes, or through injection wells. Research in recharge through basins has been dominated by mathematical models based on idealized conditions and empirical relations, derived by experimental sequencing of recharge operations, and operational controls in the pretreatment of recharge water. Recharge by injection wells has been undertaken in a variety of hydrologic environments, for example in Israel where efforts have been directed toward the analyses of diffusion and dispersion of the injected water. Much research in the United States has been directed toward the movement of bacteria and organic matter through an aquifer and in the chemical modeling of changes in recharged water as it moves. Much more research is needed on the basic properties of aquifers, particularly in the unsaturated zone, and on all aspects of recharge water quality. Research and the utilization of data produced are increasingly the responsibility of interdisciplinary teams which consider the geologic, hydraulic, geochemical, bacteriologic, engineering, geophysical, and economic aspects of the system. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1593------------