Managed Aquifer Recharge

(MAR) and Menarid

International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre

Beirut , June 2014Ebel Smidt

Linearity: missing the main issue Fragile – robust – antifragile (Nassim Taleb)

MAIN MESSAGES

1. Buffering is an ancient answer to crises.

2. Groundwater is a natural buffer, use it economically and wisely, taking into consideration uncertainty in the planning.

3. Recent 65 years of modern large scale MAR-projects and thousands of years of small scale experiences offer challenging opportunities for future cooperation in practical and research projects.

Water costs

Groundwater from Global Perspective

And MAR

Buffer management at the basin scale

Key facts1. Operational since 20022. Capacity 9 MCM used for a) guaranteeing drinking water supplyb) Downstream regular use of groundwater for agriculture (12 MCM) c) Restoring wildlife, improving biotic ecosystems

Wala Dam Jordan

Drinking water from the dunes

• 1853 Start extraction by dug canals

• 1903 Start extraction by wells

• 1957 Start artificial recharge with pretreated river water taken from the Rhine Branch near Utrecht, at 75 km distance.

Origin from the drinking water produced from the dune area near Amsterdam 1853-1999

Bron drinkwaterproductie Leiduin

010

203040

5060

7080

1850

1862

1874

1886

1898

1910

1922

1934

1946

1958

1970

1982

1994

mln

m3/

jaar

Geinfiltreerd rivierwater (sinds 1957)Diep duinwater (sinds 1903)Ondiep duinwater(sinds 1853)

River water

Deep dune water

Shallow dunewater

Groundwater and Adaptation Measures Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) provides multiple benefits:

storing water for future use stabilizing or recovering ground

water levels in overexploited aquifers, reducing evaporative losses managing saline intrusion

or land subsidence, and enabling reuse of waste or storm water.

Land use change – may provide an opportunity to enhance recharge, to protect groundwater qualityand to reduce groundwater lossesfrom evapotranspiration.

Integrating the management of surface water and groundwater resources (also to avoid mutual adversely impact) by regional integrated land and water management (ILWM – INRM)

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) or 3R: a different way of thinking

Recharge Retention Reuse

Storage = buffering • 3R concept – Recharge, Retention and

Reuse• Local (cisterns) and subsurface storage

(active use of aquifer) of surface water for both water- and food security

• It is not about allocation scarce water but to catch and retain water and extend the chain of use and reuse as much as possible within a basin.

• Introduce buffer management at the basin scale – basin by basin (building it up partically piecemeal/scattered/trial&error).

• Subsurface storage has the largest capacity potential

Overall Framework

3R TechniquesTechnology

AS(TR)

ASR

Spreading methods

infiltration ponds & basins

flooding

ditch, furrow, drains

irrigation

sand dams

channel spreading

Induced bank infiltration

Well, shaft and borehole recharge

deep well injection

shallow well/ shaft/ pit infiltration

Sub type

Runoff harvestingbarriers and bunds

trenches

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recharge dams

sub surface dams

3R Techniques

New developments: buffering desal water: Abu Dhabi ASR Project

DESAL-MAR – a simple picture

and a more complex one……next slide(Source ASR Consortium 2007)

Note: The power plant can be based on green energy: solar energy or geothermal energy.

Economics of combining ASR and Desalination

Savings (in %) per unit production cost by introducing ASR in relation to desalination plant capacity

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Desalination plant capacity (m3 per day)

Savi

ngs

(%)g

max

min

Cost scale of MAR in relation to typical costs of water supplies for irrigation, non-potable & drinking water

supplies

irrigation supplies

3rd pipe supplies of non-potable recycled water

urban drinking water supplies

$0.50 - $1.50/KL

$0.05-0.50/KL >$1.20/KL

m3

price of water

ASR

pond infiltration

Dillon, P., Pavelic, P., Page, D., Beringen H. and Ward J. (2009) Managed Aquifer Recharge: An Introduction, Waterlines Report No 13, Feb 2009.

Water adaptation costs (1)

Water adaptation costs (2)

Water adaptation costs (3): source

1. IGRAC’s aim: to be one of your main portals to groundwater knowledge.

2. Sharing experiences with information selection and sharing is meta-information, which can help you to solve your Groundwater Governance issues.

3. So: don’t hesitate to contact us.

International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre

Global Groundwater Assessment Global Inventory of MAR - Managing Aquifer Recharge, together

with many partners Assessment of Arsenic and

Fluoride worldwide

providing information - building the groundwater case

Tool in development: Meta-information on MAR sites

MAIN OVERALL AMMAN MESSAGES (1)

1. Water buffering and land use change are ancient answers to crises. It are behavioural changes!

2. Groundwater is increasingly being used economically and wisely as buffer. MAR-Menarid examples are an excellent proof of this statement.

3. Much challenging work has to be done concerning proper scaling (both up and down) of MAR-implementation.

MAIN OVERALL AMMAN MESSAGES (2)

4. MAR-technology is well developed and will develop itself to further maturity combining conventional and modern methods. General guidelines are available and being updated. Improved effective and efficient exchange mechanism on national and international levels are needed especially concerning societal acceptance or integration of MAR.

5. Main scientific questions focus on (a) water quality issues, (b) optimization of water balancing, (c) planning and monitoring and (d) integration of technical, socio-economic, institutional and participation issues (=governance). Tailormade solutions are needed within generic frameworks.

MAIN OVERALL AMMAN MESSAGES (3)

6. Downscaling means bringing practical solutions to the lowest levels in a watershed (individual plants and trees and people), upscaling means bringing the solutionsto the highest levels of waterbasin planning (transboundary if needed). Integration of the two processes is an important challenge to increase the speed of success.

7. Cost effectiveness and cost recovery are important issues: especially in groundwater/MAR-practises full cost analysis (including long term development / sustainability issues) is needed.

8. The Sept 2014 Marrakesh IAH conference is a good forum to present results of the down&upscaled processes following our workshop (www.IAH2014.org).

9. Involve other MENA and Arab Gulf countries in the information exchange and next phases (viz. Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Lebanon etc.) .

10. Pay special attention to the need of the Gaza aquifer recovery issue, in combination with desal opportunities and economics.

11. Integrate findings with the International Groundwater Governance Project.

More information

http://groundwatercop.iwlearn.net/menaridhttp://www.un-igrac.org/publications/155www.bebuffered.comwww.iah.org/rechargehttp://www.groundwatergovernance.org/

Thank you for your attention

Questions?

For future contact: Ebel Smidt: e.h.smidt@tudelft.nl

International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre

Beirut, June 2014