Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Tool to Improve Water Security and Resilience

Abstract

Groundwater overdraft is an issue faced by urban and rural water users worldwide. With climate change making efforts to meet global water demands even more challenging, improving water security and resilience is of paramount importance. Managed aquifer recharge efforts are being deployed globally to further achieve water management goals, such as helping to reduce groundwater overdraft at a local level. Artificial recharge or managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a concept that has been applied to describe diverse methods with the aim of both augmenting groundwater resources during times when water is available and recovering the water from the same aquifer in the future when it is needed. MAR projects are distributed in almost every continent. An extensive study published in 2018 identified that 15 countries and regions account for 76% of the installed MAR capacity (Australia, China, France, Finland, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Netherlands, Qatar, Southern Africa, Spain, United States, and United Kingdom). MAR is considered a viable tool to face the negative impacts of climate change and to increase public water supply at a local level. In arid and semiarid regions, MAR plays an important role because it allows the storage of large volumes of water without the risk of evaporation. MAR is used to provide water for agricultural activities in groundwater-dependent countries and regions. Increasingly, at least in India, many MAR projects are designed to protect domestic water supply. MAR is also used as a water source for maintaining environmental services, although this use is still incipient.