Two DESSIN papers published in special issue of MDPI Water on managed aquifer recharge

A special issue on managed aquifer recharge (MAR) of MDPI Water has been released. It is aiming at hydrogeochemical and water quality management aspects, such as the benefits of self-purification during aquifer recharge and storage, including bank filtration, and problems due to undesired water-aquifer interactions and clogging of infiltration and injection systems. From both, the Barcelona and the Westland demosite, a paper was submitted and accepted for publication.

The Barcelona paper (download here or in our download area) focuses on the clogging of the aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wells during injection of sand filtered water, which was simulated under lab conditions. It was shown that although microbiological clogging was observed, the operational capacity of the ASR well will not be heavily impacted. This means that there is clear potential to inject sand filtered water at the site in order to store freshwater for moments when intake of river water is hampered.

The paper based on the demosite in Westland (download here or in our download area) is the first to report on the impact of aquifer storage and recovery and reverse osmosis (ASRRO). This system is technically able to provide a robust freshwater source. This study however analysed the impact on the groundwater system if it would be widely implemented. Therefore, the current situation (brackish water RO) was also evaluated. It was shown that the introduction of the DESSIN solution would have great benefits for the groundwater system, especially close to the groundwater wells (‘local scale’). On a regional scale, overall effects on the salinity was limited in all scenarios for 30 years and saltwater intrusion was clearly reduced by ASRRO.