Coupling stormwater protection and aquifer recharge

Stormwater in small catchments is a threat to agricultural land use and civilization. Increasing ambient temperatures increase the risks for severe rainfall and surface runoff and reduce the amount of groundwater recharge. At the same time, the demand for irrigation water is rising. This development calls for integrated strategies for stormwater protection and aquifer recharge.

In this contribution, we present a case study for a technical solution to infiltrate stormwater into the local aquifer. The site is located in an area well known for hop cultivation. The aquifers are located in tertiary sediments, which are covered with loess and are sometimes semi-confined. Hydraulic conductivities are in the 10^-4 m/s range, and specific storage coefficients are between 10^-6 (confined) and 0.2 (unconfined). Current stormwater protection plans include retention basins with a capacity of 5500 m³, not all of them fully functional, and flooding events were recorded two times per year. Demand for irrigation was 64 mm for the past five years, with peaks of 118 mm in 2022. Even if only the extreme rainfall events would be recharged into the aquifer, an area of 5-10 ha could be irrigated from the infiltrated water, assuming one extreme event. This is a significant amount of the area (15%) used for hop cultivation around the storage site.

Specific challenges at this site are the flood dynamics, the uncontrolled surface runoff, which brings a lot of fines, and the water quality with regard to fertilizers and pesticides. This requires small settling ponds or intermediate storage facilities and adsorbers. Most of the used products, however, have a medium to strong tendency to adsorb on organic carbon and even inorganic materials. The hydrogeological model indicates that the flood water can be infiltrated at high volumetric flow rates without risking upwelling groundwater tables. A detailed site investigation will be completed by mid-2024.