THE ECONOMICS OF MANAGED AQUIFER RECHARGE: THE CASE OF CALIFORNIA'S SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT ACT

Managed Aquifer Recharge is not a new concept, but interest in it as a tool to address water scarcity has increased in recent years. This is true in the state of California, which passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 to protect groundwater resources. SGMA’s goal is to bring overdrafted basins into sustainability by 2040 requiring local water agencies to develop sustainability plans.many of which involve some form of MAR. The economics of MAR are uncertain and require a more thorough understanding of the true costs and benefits of MAR which include construction and maintenance costs as well as effective yields, but also environmental damages, location specific feasibility, equity, and water availability. In addition to assessing the larger scale concerns regarding the economics of MAR, we examine a sample of these plans from California’s Central Valley and discuss whether they are likely to be successful in terms of water balance, as well as feasibility of their proposed MAR projects.