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A Suitable Tool for Sustainable Groundwater Management

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Abstract

Artificial recharge is used to increase the availability of groundwater storage and reduce saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers, where pumping and droughts have severely impaired groundwater quality. The implementation of optimal recharge methods requires knowledge of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena involving water and wastewater filtration in the subsoil, together with engineering aspects related to plant design and maintenance operations. This study uses a novel Decision Support System (DSS), which includes soil aquifer treatment (SAT) evaluation, to design an artificial recharge plant. The DSS helps users make strategic decisions on selecting the most appropriate recharge methods and water treatment technologies at specific sites. This will enable the recovery of safe water using managed aquifer recharge (MAR) practices, and result in reduced recharge costs. The DSS was built using an artificial intelligence technique and knowledge-based technology, related to both quantitative and qualitative aspects of water supply for artificial recharge. The DSS software was implemented using rules based on the cumulative experience of wastewater treatment plant engineers and groundwater modeling. Appropriate model flow simulations were performed in porous and fractured coastal aquifers to evaluate the suitability of this technique for enhancing the integrated water resources management approach. Results obtained from the AQUASTRESS integrated project and DRINKADRIA IPA CBC suggest the most effective strategies for wastewater treatments prior to recharge at specific sites.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by an EU grant from the Drink Adria IPA ADRIATIC CBC project (1°str/0004) 2013/2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reparto di Chimica e Tecnologia delle Acque, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque, 5 via Francesco De Blasio, 70132, Bari, Italy

    Costantino Masciopinto, Michele Vurro, Vito Nicola Palmisano & Isabella Serena Liso

Authors
  1. Costantino Masciopinto
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  2. Michele Vurro
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  3. Vito Nicola Palmisano
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  4. Isabella Serena Liso
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Costantino Masciopinto.

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Key Points

• A new decision support system (DSS) tool was implemented using background data from artificial recharge plants around the world;

• Experiments and results on soil aquifer treatment efficacy are presented;

• Flow and transport in coastal aquifers was modeled to support decisions for sustainable resource management.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material A reports the flow and transport model equations for porous and fractured aquifers. (PDF 961 kb)

Supplementary Material B contains water quality threshold values implemented into the DSS (Table B1) and the estimation of sustainable annual withdrawal from the Akrotiri (Limassol) aquifer for domestic and irrigation use, under different scenarios (Table B2).

The DSS software Recharge.exe together with expert rules implemented into DSS are in the file Recharge.zip. This file is freely available at: costantino.masciopinto@ba.irsa.cnr.it. The software is free and ready for use, provided the article is fully cited.

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Masciopinto, C., Vurro, M., Palmisano, V.N. et al. A Suitable Tool for Sustainable Groundwater Management. Water Resour Manage 31, 4133–4147 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1736-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1736-0

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