artificial Aquifer Recharge
Enhancement
As the population of Texas continues to grow, water planners are challenged to fine ways to meet the ensuing increase in the demand for water. One of the most promising methods of creating new water supply is called ASR, which stands for Aquifer Recharge and Recovery.
ASR is an innovative water management strategy that has the potential to help Texas meet its future water demands. As our State grows, new development continues to change the way our aquifers are naturally recharged. We are paving over the natural recharge Zones and diverting surface water run-off away from areas of recharge. The result is less water returning to our aquifers. In many locations, the problem has reached the point that the aquifers we all share, and depend on, can not be sustained as viable sources of water.
ASR is a water management technique that involves the injection of surface water run-off back into our depleting aquifers. Surface water run-off during the rainy season is the primary source of re-injectable water; however, there is also the potential to use treated wastewater as a source of re-injectable water.
Planners know that the construction of new surface water reservoirs is no longer the best option for meeting our future water demand. In comparison with ASR, new lakes are not an efficient option. A new lake takes approximately 30 to 40 years to bring online, at a huge cost. A new lake requires the use of eminent domain to secure the need of surface area. Additionally, a new lake begins to lose capacity from day one due to the silting process and is always subject to significant water loss to evaporation. An ASR project, on the other hand, can be constructed in a relatively short period of time. The largest ASR system in Texas was completed in 7 years at a fraction of the cost of a new reservoir. No eminent domain is required, and the ASR site does not flood as many acres of land that a lake does. There is no silting, and since the water is stored in the underground aquifer, there is no evaporation.
ASR is used in many states across our nation; however, there are currently only three ASR facilities in Texas. Law makers are working to make Texas law more conducive to the use of ASR. Consequently, there are several new ASR locations being studied to determining if hydrological conditions are right for ASR.