RECHARGE, REGULATIONS, AND THE RURAL LANDSCAPE: EXPLORING BENEFITS AND ROADBLOCKS TO DRYWELL IMPLEMENTATIONS AT SCALE

Many rural landscapes worldwide face dual concerns of declining groundwater stores and degraded groundwater quality. Enhanced recharge methods on rural landscapes represent an opportunity to combat declining water tables and, if carefully implemented, to improve aggregate groundwater quality via contaminant dilution. Despite these potential dual benefits (and the fact that the majority of aquifer volumes lie beneath rural land), national and state regulatory frameworks are ill-equipped to promote groundwater recharge enhancement on rural landscapes.

In this presentation, we present case-study implementations and modeling of several enhanced recharge techniques in rural landscapes. We employ example applications of recharge trenches and drywells, and compare obtained recharge rates against those found under natural conditions. Our results indicate that both methods enhance recharge effectively. However, methods using shallow, small-diameter drywells provide a particularly cost-effective approach for enhancing groundwater recharge and reducing evapotranspiration rates. Our results in sandy soils also indicate minimal impacts to native groundwater quality. After describing our findings, we explore current regulatory frameworks for enhanced infiltration and suggest changes for the future that may help to improve groundwater quality and quantity sustainability.