Water Quality Considerations for Managed Aquifer Recharge Systems

Dear Colleagues,

After an earlier Special Issue in the open access journal Water, on the “Policy and Economics of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and Water Banking”, a second Special Issue on MAR is aiming at hydrogeochemical and water quality management aspects. The hydrogoechemical aspects include the benefits of self-purification during aquifer recharge and storage, including bank filtration, and problems due to undesired water–aquifer interactions due to mixing with ambient groundwater. Water quality also impacts on rates of clogging of infiltration and injection systems and, hence, on the quantity and viability of recharge. The efficiency of water recovery from short- and long-term water storage or banking in brackish aquifers depends on mixing and the quality of recovered water.

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) comprises use of techniques such as infiltration basins, recharge wells for Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) and River Bank Filtration (RBF), which can contribute to solving water crises due to climate change, growing water demands, and deteriorating water quality. Important advantages of these techniques consist of (1) enhancing recharge rates to secure water supplies; (2) the transformation of unreliable, often polluted surface water into hygienically safe groundwater of much better quality; and (3) subterranean storage, which protects the water against evaporation losses, algae blooms, and atmospheric fallout of pollutants. Disadvantages may consist of cumbersome clogging phenomena, water losses due to mixing with brackish groundwater, and natural reactions with the porous medium. The latter may necessitate a post-treatment. In addition, surface waters to be stored may contain emerging pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, endocrine dirsruptors, and nanoparticles, the behavior of which, in aquifer systems, is still poorly understood. Furthermore, pathogen removal in MAR systems needs validation through use of improved measurement methods and challenge testing methodologies for robust risk assessment.

MAR programs are important to water management in the context of effluent reuse, whether for potable and non-potable purposes. 

The introduction of MAR systems, therefore, raises many technical and scientific questions, in additon to those related to policy and management. This Special Issue invites papers, including case studies, that relate to these questions.

Prof. Dr. Pieter J. Stuyfzand
Dr. Niels Hartog
Guest Editors

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