A general framework for site selection of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) scheme

Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is one of the promising strategies for managing surplus water and overcome the water shortages. The performance of an ASR scheme is generally evaluated in terms of recovery efficiency, which... [ view full abstract ]

Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is one of the promising strategies for managing surplus water and overcome the water shortages. The performance of an ASR scheme is generally evaluated in terms of recovery efficiency, which is defined as percentage of water injected into a system in an ASR site that fulfills the targeted water quality criterion. Site selection of an ASR scheme typically faces great challenges due to the spatial variability of the groundwater quality and hydrogeological condition. This study presents a general framework for site selection of an ASR scheme. Due to the limited costs and times to obtain the whole data of groundwater quality and hydrogeological condition, the geostatistical approach is used to spatially delineate the safe zones based on the drinking water quality standards and the suitable zones based on transmissivity. According to the geostatistical analyzed results, the sites with safe groundwater quality, suitable hydrogeological condition and adjacent to water sources are selected as the candidate site at the first stage. Finally, simplified groundwater flow and contaminant transport models are used to explore the recovery efficiency and ASR operation. The general framework presented in this study may help government administrator establishing reliable site selection of ASR scheme.