Managed Aquifer Recharge

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) involves the intentional inducement of water into an aquifer. Water can be recharged using a variety of techniques, including from direct infiltration (spreading, bank induced infiltration, well injection) or via surface water interception that increases infiltration (in channel modifications, runoff harvesting, land flooding). MAR can serve a variety of purposes. Recharge may be implemented to reduce groundwater overdraft, to ensure availability of water during drought periods, to manage stormwater runoff, to protect instream flows, to combat saltwater intrusion, or to ameliorate groundwater salinity. While the scientific and technical knowledge needed to implement and to evaluate the effects of MAR have been steadily increasing, understandings of the institutional structures that can facilitate, the incentives that encourage uptake of, and the barriers to implementation of MAR lag.

On September 10, 2019 120+ practitioners, policymakers and scholars joined our a symposium on incentivizing managed aquifer recharge. Information available here.

This research examines nine examples (Figure 1) of successful deployment of MAR in the USA to identify how technical, legal, institutional and economic factors converge in MAR systems. The result are insights as to how MAR can be incentivized, how barriers to MAR implementation can be overcome, and the institutional structures necessary to enable MAR projects.

A synthesis of the research findings, including detailed information about each of the MAR projects has been published in Case Studies in the Environment.

Figure 1. Map of MAR Projects Examined:

This research is being conducted in partnership with the Wheeler Water Institute, Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at the University of California Berkeley.  The project is sponsored by Nestle Waters.