Optimal management of artificial recharge facilities

Abstract EN

Aquifers may be considered as underground reservoirs and managed or operated similarly to surface reservoirs.

There are numerous advantages to altering aquifer management to include artificial recharge and long term storage of excess water.

Among these are increased net benefits to the total water supply system and decreased negative environmental impacts.

This study illustrates how to optimally manage aquifer storage similarly to a surface reservoir by the combined use of a simulation model (HEC-3) and optimization model (the out-of-kilter algorithm).

The simulation model shows how the system reacts to the management scheme resulting from running the optimization model.

If the simulation results are infeasible, the constraints of the optimization model are modified and the cycle repeated.

The method is illustrated by applying it to several basins in California.

Similar situations exist in the Middle East, to which this approach may be applied.

The results of the study showed that the water production of a stream-aquifer system might be significantly increased by operating them together, using artificial recharge and optimally timed ground water withdrawals.