Groundwater Recharge using Stormwater

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I need advice on recharging #Groundwater  with #Stormwater

What is the most efficient technology for artificially moving the surface water down to groundwater?

Is there a risk of polluting the groundwater resources?  

Is there a technology that removes Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and dissolved harmful constituents such as oil, heavy metals and other contaminants which are part of the  #Stormwater Runoff  while recharging? 

How can Low-impact development (LID) best be implemented in groundwater recharge?

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19 Answers

  1. hi

    I think that artificial recharge of groundwater from spreading rainwater or floods is a beneficial method. but considering the quality of water sources is very important.

  2. Dear Dr. Bhatt,

    So as not to reinvent the wheel, here is the link to the TOC for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Stormwater Best Management Practices which encourages infiltration of stormwater: http://www.elibrary.dep.state.pa.us/dsweb/Get/Document-48472/00_Cover_TOC.pdf

    And here is the link to the PADEP eLibrary where you can find the complete document to download: http://www.elibrary.dep.state.pa.us/dsweb/View/Collection-8305 

    Best regards,

    John

  3. This could be an option with considering.

    http://www.groundwaterdynamics.co.uk

    This is a vertical drainage system that takes the water away naturally  

    1 Comment

    1. Thank you for your response and suggestion of option for recharge. However, will appreciate if some schematic diagrams of the technology or a video is available which can be shared for more clarity!

  4. Dear All,

    Thank you all for your overwhelming reponse and ideas and suggestions on recharging of storm water. We, being a team of hydrogeologists and civil engineers, always do take necessary care before implemrnting the water harvesting project. In fact, our efforts have been to popularise on the insistence of use of scientific and technical knowledge while planning the water harvesting & recharging project. The method that we have adopted is a modified version of the traditional water harevsting system which has double filtration unit of `V' wire screens filled with the gravel pack to filter out alkl the fine impurities and silt. The screens are also lowered and placed against potential aquifer zones identified after electro-logging survey. These wells have a capacity of recharging about 15 to 20,000 litres of runoff water per hour.  While impleneting the scheme, care has been taken to avaoid runoff from roads and sewage lines and other such possible polluting sites. We have observed that after implementation of the water harvesting & recharging projects, water quality has improved with lowering of TDS concentration and also water levels have shallowed. These days, with the impact of climate change becomning more and more pronounced, rain spells are heavy and of short duration viz. 60 to 70 cm of rain in 2 hours. In such events, generally, city drainage netwroks fail to cope up with the volume of storm water leading to water logging and flodding conditions. To addtress these types of  situations, we feel that modified water harvesting and recharging  structure can be considreed as a solution.  Settling basins could be an answer fore recharging of clean water but in urban perspective, it really becomes challenging as space is the main constraint. I thank you all again for your interest and please do share your valuable comments and suggestions to help us serve the society in better & secure way.

    1 Comment

    1. I am deeply concerned with your method and advise that you reconsider.  If your water quality is not drinking water quality or better, you risk introducing contaminants into the aquifer that can have negative effects for years to come.  If you wish to only filter storm or rain water and not disinfect and remove soluble pollutants, please do not inject directly into the aquifer through wells.  There are many instances where pollutants have been inadvertently introduced into an aquifer only to show up again far downstream in drinking water wells.  If this aquifer is to be used for drinking water,  please do not inject unpurified water into it.

      1 Comment reply

      1. Thank you for your advice. We shall consider this while implementing the RWH projects.  

  5. Here in southern California stormwater and streamflow has been used extensively to recharge our aquifers for many years.  Generally this water has a moderate TDS (1000 or so mg/l) and may contain sediment and manmade chemicals.  The undesirable elements such as oils usually pass in the first part of storm water so delay the first flush so to speak.  Initial sediment can be avoided mostly by delaying diversion to  the spreading basins.  After time the bottom of the spreading basins begins to seal because of sediment deposition and biological clogging of soil pores.  To combat this construct spreading basins so that they have a high ratio of side slopes where most of the percolation takes place.  Such basins should be on a regular maintenance program.  You might consult my book "Unsaturated Zone Hydrology" Prentice-Hall 1994 as well as some of my papers.

  6. Hello Kiran, You had already got a lot of views on the pros and cons of recharging groundwater with stormwater and I appreciate your good intent. But we need to be a bit careful when we are working with aquifers and our good intent should not lead to deteriorating it and may be a havoc for the human beings down the line. Apart from the ensuring the good quality of recharge water, I suggest you need to know the geology of the area and the impact of the recharge water on the same to avoid future problems.  

  7. Unless you use drinking water quality water, it is not advisable to recharge groundwater with storm water by directly injecting into an aquifer.  Using LID/Green technologies to infiltrate far above groundwater is a popular and acceptable method.   

  8. Hi Kiran, you best start with taking representable samples of your stormwater, groundwater and also the soil (and analyse at cert. lab)  to have a certain baseline of current situation. With that info you can make better decisions. Regards, Jaap

  9. I have the experience of building a very inexpensive ground water re-charge system for a colony in Gurgaon without the possibility of natural drainage. It used normal drains and sewage system as/rules of HUDA. However the drainage water was diverted to a network of shallow pits in the green areas. The pits were about 2 m deep and 2m in diameter and were filled with brickbats and covered with earth so that the ground became available for normal use. This worked well without any maintenance for about 15 years after which the pits needed to be de-silted or perhaps abandoned and replaced by new pits. The system really cost peanuts and required no extra land. The project was a zero rainwater discharge project. To avoid pollution of underground water, the pits did not have a vertical pipe connecting to UG water level, such as is recommended for clean water from roofs. 

  11. This is not a smart idea or even a good idea. You have to look deeper like, why do you need to recharge it? This is nature and you just can't do your thing without thorough study. Just saying...

  13. Please consider three main aspects before recharging the storm water into the ground. 

    One the stormwater runoff must not be contaminated with Industrial pollutants, fertilisers, pesticides or sewage. It is important to evaluate the catchment area and the possible ingress of any unchecked runoffs in this catchment area.

    Two, the infiltration area must also be unpolluted, if the land selected for ground water recharge already has seen infiltration of industrial pollutants in the past, the ground water recharge efforts will do more harm than any good.

    Direct recharge into ground water via direct vertical shafts is a strict no. The RWH structures generally designed in India are only meant to be connected to clean roof tops.

    Please consider use of Geocellular blocks under long grass bioswales for creating infiltration basins if you are sure of the quality of stormwater.

    Please see a short video on the efficacy of Sedipipe systems, their ease of inspection at the following link.

    https://youtu.be/2IMCPHP_aZw

    The complete installation, inspection and cleaning operation of sedipipe is available at the following link.

    https://youtu.be/1HipLqzWFXY

  15. Yes, there is a risk of polluting Groundwater Sources.  About 50,000 acres of Iowa row crop farmland was illegally channeled through my Section 11, Cedar (W) Township, Mitchell County, Iowa, USA farm to outlet down a group of sinkholes in an Aquifer Recharge Area in a Designated National Wetland.  The Flood waters contained high levels of CAFO and Anhydrous Ammonia Nitrogen fertilizers, Atrazine (other herbicides), pesticides, and the high levels of Ammonia Nitrogen as N drew Arsenic from the bedrock and Lead from our well pipes and delivery lines.  The Ammonia levels also combined with the Chlorine the Iowa DNR told us to use to disinfect our water for the CAFO bacteria, causing Trihalomethanes or other decontaminants.  Causing high animal loss numbers and numerous cancers in the families drinking the contaminated wells Downstream in parts of Floyd, Butler, Bremer, and Blackhawk Counties.    

  16. You have to be careful with your source areas, and want to avoid major roads and industrial and commercial sites with large connected impervious areas, or even very busy parking lots at small sites.  We require that infiltration basins have a minimum six-inch liner of a soil filter medium with enough organic matter to slow infiltration rate and sorb metals and hydrocarbons.  These liners will need to be replaced and rehabilitated from time to time due to clogging with fines and organic matter, and to avoid problems with accumulation of metals.  Consider using long grassed swales or other sediment-trapping measures upstream of your basin or drywell. Drywells and similar subsurface injection methods are used for roof runoff and other relatively clean sources; we have some sites that keep roof runoff and runoff from other clean parts of the site separate from dirtier runoff from parking lots, roads, loading docks, etc.  so that they can infiltrate the clean water.   Many of these basins are neglected and tend to clog over time, so that you get low dissolved oxygen in the basin that can result in the release of metals in the accumulated sediment, or from portions of the aquifer affected by the low d.o. plume.  We have seen mobilization of arsenic in an aquifer as a result of low d.o. conditions from a wide range of anthropogenic sources. 

    The attached file has some graphs of groundwater data from different sites showing the impacts of infiltration on various parameters; unfortunately it looks like two of the graphs (the first and last) were pretty distorted by the upload, but you should be able to see the general trends.  Let me know if you want more data and I'll try and get you some better files when I'm not in a rush.

  19. This will much depend on scale and source/nature of runoff (e.g. residential, road, industrial, construction site). I would recommend the CIRIA SuDS manual (Sustainable Drainage Systems) C753 as a good starting point to find out more about this.

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