Groundwater recharge

Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and, is often expressed as a flux to the water table surface. Groundwater recharge also encompasses water moving away from the water table farther into the saturated zone. Recharge occurs both naturally (through the water cycle) and through anthropogenic processes (i.e., "artificial groundwater recharge"), where rainwater and or reclaimed water is routed to the subsurface.
Processes.
Groundwater is recharged naturally by rain and snow melt and to a smaller extent by surface water (rivers and lakes). Recharge may be impeded somewhat by human activities including paving, development, or logging. These activities can result in loss of topsoil resulting in reduced water infiltration, enhanced surface runoff and reduction in recharge. Use of groundwater, especially for irrigation, may also lower the water tables. Groundwater recharge is an important process for sustainable groundwater management, since the volume-rate abstracted from an aquifer in the long term should be less than or equal to the volume-rate that is recharged.
Recharge can help move excess salts that accumulate in the root zone to deeper soil layers, or into the groundwater system. Tree roots increase water saturation into groundwater reducing water runoff.
Flooding temporarily increases river bed permeability by moving clay soils downstream, and this increases aquifer recharge.
Artificial groundwater recharge is becoming increasingly important in India, where over-pumping of groundwater by farmers has led to underground resources becoming depleted. In 2007, on the recommendations of the International Water Management Institute, the Indian government allocated to fund dug-well recharge projects (a dug-well is a wide, shallow well, often lined with concrete) in 100 districts within seven states where water stored in hard-rock aquifers had been over-exploited. Another environmental issue is the disposal of waste through the water flux such as dairy farms, industrial, and urban runoff.
Wetlands.
Wetlands help maintain the level of the water table and exert control on the hydraulic head. This provides force for groundwater recharge and discharge to other waters as well. The extent of groundwater recharge by a wetland is dependent upon soil, vegetation, site, perimeter to volume ratio, and water table gradient. Groundwater recharge occurs through mineral soils found primarily around the edges of wetlands. The soil under most wetlands is relatively impermeable. A high perimeter to volume ratio, such as in small wetlands, means that the surface area through which water can infiltrate into the groundwater is high. Groundwater recharge is typical in small wetlands such as prairie potholes, which can contribute significantly to recharge of regional groundwater resources. Researchers have discovered groundwater recharge of up to 20% of wetland volume per season.
Depression-focused recharge.
If water falls uniformly over a field such that field capacity of the soil is not exceeded, then negligible water percolates to groundwater. If instead water puddles in low-lying areas, the same water volume concentrated over a smaller area may exceed field capacity resulting in water that percolates down to recharge groundwater. The larger the relative contributing runoff area is, the more focused infiltration is. The recurring process of water that falls relatively uniformly over an area, flowing to groundwater selectively under surface depressions is depression focused recharge. Water tables rise under such depressions.
Depression pressure.
Depression focused groundwater recharge can be very important in arid regions. More rain events are capable of contributing to groundwater supply.
Depression focused groundwater recharge also profoundly effects contaminant transport into groundwater. This is of great concern in regions with karst geological formations because water can eventually dissolve tunnels all the way to aquifers, or otherwise disconnected streams. This extreme form of preferential flow, accelerates the transport of contaminants and the erosion of such tunnels. In this way depressions intended to trap runoff water—before it flows to vulnerable water resources—can connect underground over time. Cavitation of surfaces above into the tunnels, results in potholes or caves.
Deeper ponding exerts pressure that forces water into the ground faster. Faster flow dislodges contaminants otherwise adsorbed on soil and carries them along. This can carry pollution directly to the raised water table below and into the groundwater supply. Thus the quality of water collecting in infiltration basins is of special concern.
Pollution.
Pollution in stormwater run-off collects in retention basins. Concentrating degradable contaminants can accelerate biodegradation. However, where and when water tables are high this affects appropriate design of detention ponds, retention ponds and rain gardens.
Estimation methods.
Rates of groundwater recharge are difficult to quantify since other related processes, such as evaporation, transpiration (or evapotranspiration) and infiltration processes must first be measured or estimated to determine the balance.
Physical.
Physical methods use the principles of soil physics to estimate recharge. The "direct" physical methods are those that attempt to actually measure the volume of water passing below the root zone. "Indirect" physical methods rely on the measurement or estimation of soil physical parameters, which along with soil physical principles, can be used to estimate the potential or actual recharge. After months without rain the level of the rivers under humid climate is low and represents solely drained groundwater. Thus, the recharge can be calculated from this base flow if the catchment area is already known.
Chemical.
Chemical methods use the presence of relatively inert water-soluble substances, such as an isotopic tracer or chloride, moving through the soil, as deep drainage occurs.
Numerical models.
Recharge can be estimated using numerical methods, using such codes as Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance, UNSAT-H, SHAW, WEAP, and MIKE SHE. The 1D-program HYDRUS1D is available online. The codes generally use climate and soil data to arrive at a recharge estimate and use the Richards equation in some form to model groundwater flow in the vadose zone.
Factors affecting groundwater recharge.
Climate change.
The future of climate change introduces the opportunity of implications regarding the availability of groundwater recharge for future drainage basin. Recent studies explore different results of future groundwater recharge rates based on theoretical moist, medium, and arid climates. The model projects a series of various rainfall patterns. From the results, it is predicted that groundwater recharge rates will have the smallest impact on a climate of equal humidity and dryness. Research predicts the insignificant impact of groundwater recharge rates on a medium climate due to predictions of decreased basin size and rainfall. Precipitation trends are predicted to relay minimal change quantitatively in the near future, while groundwater recharge rates are subject to increase as a consequence of global warming. This phenomenon is explained through the physical attributes of vegetation. With increasing temperature as a result of global warming, leaf area index (LAI) decreases. This leads to higher rates of infiltration into the soil and less interception within the tree itself. A direct result of increasing infiltration into the soil is elevated rates of groundwater recharge. Therefore, with increasing temperatures and insignificant changes of precipitation patterns, groundwater recharge rates are subject to increase.
Other research initiatives also reveal that different mechanisms of groundwater recharge have different sensitivities in response to climate change. Increasing global temperatures generate more arid climates in some regions, and this can lead to excessive pumping of the water table. When rates of pumping are greater than the rate of groundwater recharge, there is an enhanced risk of overdrafting. The depletion of groundwater is evidence of the water table's response to excessive pumping. Severe consequences of groundwater depletion include lowering of the water table and depleting water quality. The quantity of water in the water table can change rapidly depending on the rate of extraction. As the level of water decreases in the aquifer, there is less available water to be pumped. If the rate of potential groundwater recharge is less than the rate of extraction, the water table will be too low for access. A consequence of this includes drilling deeper into the water table to access more water. Drilling into the aquifer can be a costly endeavour and it is not guaranteed that the quantity of available water will be exact to previous yields.
Urbanization.
Further implications of groundwater recharge are a consequence of urbanization. Research shows that the recharge rate can be up to ten times higher in urban areas compared to rural regions. This is explained through the vast water supply and sewage networks supported in urban regions in which rural areas are not likely to obtain. Recharge in rural areas is heavily supported by precipitation and this is opposite for urban areas. Road networks and infrastructure within cities prevents surface water from percolating into the soil, resulting in most surface runoff entering storm drains for local water supply. As urban development continues to spread across various regions, rates of groundwater recharge will increase relative to the existing rates of the previous rural region. A consequence of sudden influxes in groundwater recharge includes flash flooding. The ecosystem will have to adjust to the elevated groundwater surplus due to groundwater recharge rates. Additionally, road networks are less permeable compared to soil, resulting in higher amounts of surface runoff . Therefore, urbanization increases the rate of groundwater recharge and reduces infiltration, resulting in flash floods as the local ecosystem accommodates changes to the surrounding environment.