Return ​to Aquifer ​Storage and ​Recovery

The idea of using underground aquifers to stash extra surface water for dry times or thirsty needs has raised enough hackles over the years that lawmakers at one point banned the practice in coastal Georgia.

Groundwater water storage, Source: Wikimedia Commons

The stage may be set for its comeback.

Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division has published a draft report outlining its authority to allow and manage what’s known as “aquifer storage and recovery.”

Often referred to as ASR, the practice involves injecting treated surface water into existing underground formations — often mixing it with an aquifer’s own natural supply of fresh water — and then using a well to withdraw it in times of need.

State environmental officials in the past have indicated that allowing this kind of underground storage could be a safe and effective way to help ease water shortfalls due to population growth and drought — both of which have left marks in Georgia.

Critics say the safety and effectiveness of banking water in underground aquifers has already been called into question.

In some cases, it has polluted aquifers with arsenic as dissolved oxygen in the injected water reacted with heavy metals in the rock. In other cases, bacteria or chemicals from disinfectants have been introduced into the water including through the injection equipment, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The state has no rules that are meant to specifically regulate ASR proposals from start to finish.

The new report, instead, makes clear the agency believes it can oversee any such project using existing state law and rules already designed to protect Georgia’s water supplies, including underground sources of drinking water.

It also calls for additional steps to be taken to improve both the oversight process and the public’s understanding and involvement in it. Those steps include a call for the agency to prepare written instructions of required steps and a need to designate a point person within the agency to help coordinate permitting and communication.

Read full article: My AJC

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Taxonomy

• Groundwater
• Integrated Water Management
• Aquifer
• Aquifer Recharge
• Groundwater Recharge
• Aquifer Recharge
• Groundwater Pollution
• Groundwater Mapping