Improving groundwater quality through managed aquifer recharge

Abstract

Abstract The treatment of raw groundwater sources with high levels of problematic constituents, such as hardness and salinity, presents a significant challenge to water network operators and local councils and is a costly process to undertake on a continued basis. With the growing emergence of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) as a mainstream and accepted practice, some significant benefits and efficiencies can be achieved from recharging groundwater with higher quality water, including recycled water sources that have already been treated for problematic constituents in the initial abstraction process. The benefit of conducting aquifer recharge and effectively diluting the source water is that continued dilution improves groundwater quality. While this concept has been proven and is in practice in numerous contexts worldwide, it has yet to be explored within the regional Australian context. As such, it was identified that a gap exists within this body of knowledge and that it was justified to ascertain the viability of this practice on a real water supply network. To this end, an investigation of managed aquifer recharge for Bungendore, NSW was undertaken. This was done through an in-depth analysis of the town’s groundwater usage and existing water quality parameters, along with the determination of available water budgets and feasible locations for implementation. The research results were then further validated using computational fluid dynamics modelling, resulting in potential positive outcomes for the Bungendore context, which, if implemented, could result in significant water quality improvement and a reduction of treatment requirements for problematic constituents in groundwater supplies.