Can Managed Aquifer Recharge Overcome Multiple Droughts?

Mengqi Zhao,Allyson Beall King,Jan Boll,Jennifer C Adam

doi:10.3390/w13162278

Abstract

Frequent droughts, seasonal precipitation, and growing agricultural water demand in the Yakima River Basin (YRB), located in Washington State, increase the challenges of optimizing water provision for agricultural producers. Increasing water storage through managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can potentially relief water stress from single and multi-year droughts. In this study, we developed an aggregated water resources management tool using a System Dynamics (SD) framework for the YRB and evaluated the MAR implementation strategy and the effectiveness of MAR in alleviating drought impacts on irrigation reliability. The SD model allocates available water resources to meet instream target flows, hydropower demands, and irrigation demand, based on system operation rules, irrigation scheduling, water rights, and MAR adoption. Our findings suggest that the adopted infiltration area for MAR is one of the main factors that determines the amount of water withdrawn and infiltrated to the groundwater system. The implementation time frame is also critical in accumulating MAR entitlements for single-year and multi-year droughts mitigation. In addition, adoption behaviors drive a positive feedback that MAR effectiveness on drought mitigation will encourage more MAR adoptions in the long run. MAR serves as a promising option for water storage management and a long-term strategy for MAR implementation can improve system resilience to unexpected droughts.

Highlights

IntroductionSatisfying water resource demands across food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is a growing concern due to rapid socio-economic development and population growth [1,2,3,4]
The model captured the impact of droughts in when system water storage was lower than its usual peak storage
The implementation of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) includes a suite of choices including when (MAR implementation time), where, and how for decision makers

Summary

Introduction

Satisfying water resource demands across food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is a growing concern due to rapid socio-economic development and population growth [1,2,3,4]. The increasing frequency of extreme climatic events [5,6], such as floods and droughts, and the shifting seasonality [7], bring unexpected problems to sectors like agriculture whose production depends heavily on the quantity and timing of water supply [8]. Undesirable trade-offs must often be made when inadequate water availability causes failure to satisfy demand due to competing needs by domestic and industrial, irrigation, fire preparedness, and natural systems [10,11,12]. Integrated water resources management is needed to allocate water strategically in space and time to achieve synergies in the long term [13]

Methods

Results

Conclusion