Chapter 23: Managed Aquifer Recharge

Abstract

Water scarcity can be caused primarily by a shortage in the total amount of water available, or to temporal imbalances between supply and demand. In many areas of the world, periodic water shortages can be alleviated by storing water available during rainy periods (or other times of excess supply) for later use during dry periods. The storage and recovery cycle could be seasonal or inter-year with water stored in years with higher than normal rainfall for use during subsequent dry years. Even in arid lands, where the average annual total supply of water is inadequate to meet all demands, seasonal or inter-year storage of water may still be of value by capturing water that would otherwise not be available for beneficial use. Mutiso (2003) observed that in most arid and semiarid lands, the quest for water does not depend on the absolute amount of precipitation, but on the fraction retained.