The Feasibility of Using Aquifer Storage and Recovery to Manage Water Supplies in Georgia
In Georgia, growing concerns about water scarcity have increased interest in policies and technologies to conserve, manage, and enhance water supplies. This paper focuses on the potential use of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) to manage and enhance water supplies, particularly in the Flint River Basin where water scarcity is a substantial management concern. Our ASR research included an analysis of both economic and technical feasibility. From an economic perspective, we considered the feasibility of using ASR technology to offset new water uses in the Flint Basin. Our preliminary findings suggest considerable promise for this technology to serve as a means for enhancing water supplies for new municipal and industrial (M&I) uses in the Flint River Basin. The results were less promising in strict economic terms for the feasibility of using ASR to offset new agricultural water use. The results of our technical feasibility analysis were promising. In the Flint Basin, ASR could potentially be used to store large volumes of surface water during the rainy season when surface water discharge rates are high or water from the Floridan aquifer when aquifer levels are highest. Stored water could be recovered when drought conditions exist in order to mitigate the effects of pumping from the river and interconnected Floridan aquifer system. Our analysis was of an ASR system that could provide for seasonal storage of approximately 1.5 billion gallons of water to help mitigate drought impacts. However, development of ASR facilities on even a larger scale might ultimately be feasible. The results of this analysis suggest that ASR could be used to support economic development in the region without new drought season withdrawals from the aquifer or surface water. Shunned in Georgia until now ASR deserves serious consideration by policy makers, government officials, economic development concerns and the concerned public.
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
Dellapenna, Joseph W. (Georgia Institute of TechnologyInstitute of Ecology, 2001-03)Markets are much in vogue as ideal institutions for managing water both nationally and internationally. Markets are presented as functioning automatically and nearly painlessly. True markets, however, have seldom existed ...
The Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Development Center's Role in Local and Regional Water Supply Issues Hollingsworth, Lisa J. (Georgia Institute of TechnologyInstitute of Ecology, 1997-03)Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Development Center (CFRDC) is a technical assistance and advisory agency serving member local governments. CFRDC's purview includes assistance to local governments in addressing the ...
Lawrence, Stephen J. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-04)The U.S. Geological Survey’s site-specific water use database (SWUDS) is designed to store permitted and non-permitted surface and groundwater withdrawals from source waters, water deliveries among water suppliers, and ...