As Floods, Drought Increase, Communities Look At Storing Water Underground [1]
"Groundwater recharge is the latest wave in water security — though challenges remain."
"Houston, Texas, has flooded every year for the past five years. At the same time, Texas is also known for dire water shortages. What if people were to capture the floodwater and store it for later in aquifers — underground layers of permeable rock, gravel and sand that allow water to pass through?
A recent study by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found that coastal aquifers from which water has been pumped for use in farms and cities, have enough space to store two-thirds of the water from high-flow events from 10 Texas rivers, reducing the impacts of both floods and droughts — if we figure out a way to get the excess water into them.
Actively moving water underground, a practice known as managed aquifer recharge (MAR), is increasingly popular today. There are about 1,200 managed aquifer recharge projects in 62 countries, according to the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) based in Delft, the Netherlands. In addition to helping manage water over- and under-supplies, MAR can be used to restore depleted aquifers, rehabilitate ecosystems and cleanse polluted water. But there are challenges as well."