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Title: PREDICTING INFILTRATION AND GROUND WATER MOUNDING FOR ARTIFICIAL RECHARGE

Author
item Bouwer, Herman
item BACK, JENNIFER - ASL HYD & ENV SVC, PHX
item OLIVER, JAMES - BROWN & CALDWELL, PHX

Submitted to: Journal Hydrologic Engineering
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/20/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Underground storage of water via surface infiltration systems will be used more in the future as populations increase and global warming may increase weather extremes, including droughts and excessive precipitation. The preferred soils for infiltration are sands and gravels. Where these are not available, finer textured soils must be used. Accurate prediction of infiltration rates then is necessary for feasibility evaluation, estimating land requirements, and design of systems. This paper presents techniques that provide these predictions and the equations necessary for system design. The techniques and equations presented in this paper benefit hydrologists, engineers, geologists, water managers, regulators and ultimately future generations.

Technical Abstract: Proper planning of systems for artificial recharge of ground water via surface infiltration requires site investigations to predict infiltration rates and land requirements. Also, the ability of the vadose zone to transmit water to the underlying aquifer must be assessed, and aquifer conditions must be evaluated to predict the rise of ground water mounds and to determine where ground water must eventually be pumped up again to establish a balance between recharge and discharge so as to keep ground water mounds below recharge areas at stable and acceptable levels. Techniques and equations are presented to convert data from short-duration infiltrometer tests with relatively small cylinders to final infiltration rates for large areas. Also, equations are developed to calculate heights of perched ground water mounds above restricting layers in the vadose zone, and to calculate the distance between the recharge area and a constant water table, as established by ground water pumping or other discharges, to create a steady-state system with constant height of the ground water mound in the recharge area. Equations are presented for circular and long, rectangular recharge areas.