Table of Contents
What are the advantages of artificial recharge of groundwater?
Advantages
- No large structures (dams) needed to store large volumes of water.
- Stored water is relatively well protected from evaporation and pollutants.
- Schemes can be implemented incrementally, keeping initial capital investment relatively low.
What are the pros and cons of aquifers?
The advantages of withdrawing groundwater include water for drinking and irrigation; availability and locality; low cost, no evaporation losses; and it is renewable. Disadvantages include aquifer depletion from over pumping, subsidence, pollution, saltwater intrusion, and reduced water flow.
What is artificial recharge of aquifers?
Artificial recharge is the practice of increasing the amount of water that enters an aquifer through human-controlled means. This method often is applied to recharge deep aquifers where application of water to the land surface are not effective at recharging these aquifers.
Why aquifers are replenished artificially?
The main purpose of artificial aquifer recharge technology is to store excess water for later use, while improving water quality (decreasing the salinity level) by recharging the aquifer with better water. Water traps are used to increase infiltration in streambeds.
What is the upper surface of zone of saturation termed as?
The upper surface of this zone of saturation is called the water table. The saturated zone beneath the water table is called an aquifer, and aquifers are huge storehouses of water.
What’s the issue with using aquifers?
Some consequences of aquifer depletion include: Lower lake levels or—in extreme cases—intermittent or totally dry perennial streams. These effects can harm aquatic and riparian plants and animals that depend on regular surface flows. Land subsidence and sinkhole formation in areas of heavy withdrawal.
What is artificial recharging How do you we implement it?
Artificial recharge is the process of spreading or impounding water on the land to increase the infiltration through the soil and percolation to the aquifer or of injecting water by wells directly into the aquifer. Confined aquifers can be recharged with wells that penetrate the aquifer.
What are the factors affecting artificial recharge?
Influence of Recharge Factors Not all aquifers can be artificially recharged. The hydraulic characteristics of the aquifer, the nature of the existing groundwater, and the characteristics of the recharge water can have a major influence on the outcome of a recharge operation.