IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v30y2016i1p149-165.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of a Storm-Water Infiltration Basin on the Recharge Dynamics in a Highly Permeable Aquifer

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Masetti
  • Daniele Pedretti
  • Alessandro Sorichetta
  • Stefania Stevenazzi
  • Federico Bacci

Abstract

Infiltration basins are increasingly used worldwide to both mitigate flood risk in urban areas and artificially recharge shallow aquifers. Understanding recharge dynamics controlling the quantity and quality of infiltrating water is required to correctly design and maintain these facilities. In this paper, we focus on quantitative aspects and analyze in detail the temporal evolution of infiltration rates in basins overlying highly permeable aquifers. In these settings, recharge is a complex process due to high recharge rate and volume, undetected soil hydraulic heterogeneity and topsoil clogging. A 16-ha infiltration basin in Northern Italy has been intensively characterized and monitored for over four years. Field and laboratory tests were performed to characterize soil hydraulic properties. An unsaturated-saturated numerical model was implemented to obtain additional quantitative information supporting experimental data. Results show a strong impact of the infiltration basin on natural recharge patterns. When properly maintained (no clogging of topsoil), estimated infiltration rates from the bottom of the basin are about fifty times higher than recharge under natural conditions in the same area. When the infiltration basin is not properly maintained, bioclogging progressively diminishes the infiltration capacity of the basin, which turns to have no impact on aquifer recharge. Recharge patterns are highly erratic and difficult to predict. We observed natural recharge rates of the order of 1 m/h and a poor correlation between recharge times and maximum intensity of rainfall events. Due to the complex behavior of the recharge, the numerical model (based on the classical Richards equation) is able to explain many but not all the observed recharge events. Macropores flow and Lisse effects on piezometric measurements may be responsible for the disagreement between model predictions and observations. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Masetti & Daniele Pedretti & Alessandro Sorichetta & Stefania Stevenazzi & Federico Bacci, 2016. "Impact of a Storm-Water Infiltration Basin on the Recharge Dynamics in a Highly Permeable Aquifer," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(1), pages 149-165, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:30:y:2016:i:1:p:149-165
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-015-1151-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-015-1151-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-015-1151-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nick Stafford & Daniel Che & L. Mays, 2015. "Optimization Model for the Design of Infiltration Basins," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(8), pages 2789-2804, June.
    2. N. Mondal & V. Singh & S. Ahmed, 2012. "Entropy-Based Approach for Assessing Natural Recharge in Unconfined Aquifers from Southern India," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(9), pages 2715-2732, July.
    3. Renato Morbidelli & Corrado Corradini & Carla Saltalippi & Luca Brocca, 2012. "Initial Soil Water Content as Input to Field-Scale Infiltration and Surface Runoff Models," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(7), pages 1793-1807, May.
    4. Marco Masetti & Guglielmina Diolaiuti & Carlo D’Agata & Claudio Smiraglia, 2010. "Hydrological Characterization of an Ice-Contact Lake: Miage Lake (Monte Bianco, Italy)," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(8), pages 1677-1696, June.
    5. A. Bobba, 2012. "Ground Water-Surface Water Interface (GWSWI) Modeling: Recent Advances and Future Challenges," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(14), pages 4105-4131, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robyn Johnston & Vladimir Smakhtin, 2014. "Hydrological Modeling of Large river Basins: How Much is Enough?," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 2695-2730, August.
    2. Lucio Di Matteo & Alessandro Spigarelli & Sofia Ortenzi, 2020. "Processes in the Unsaturated Zone by Reliable Soil Water Content Estimation: Indications for Soil Water Management from a Sandy Soil Experimental Field in Central Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Alessia Flammini & Corrado Corradini & Renato Morbidelli & Carla Saltalippi & Tommaso Picciafuoco & Juan Vicente Giráldez, 2018. "Experimental Analyses of the Evaporation Dynamics in Bare Soils under Natural Conditions," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(3), pages 1153-1166, February.
    4. Qu Simin & Wang Tao & Bao Weimin & Shi Peng & Jiang Peng & Zhou Minmin & Yu Zhongbo, 2013. "Evaluating Infiltration Mechanisms Using Breakthrough Curve and Mean Residence Time," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(13), pages 4579-4590, October.
    5. Gokmen Tayfur & Luca Brocca, 2015. "Fuzzy Logic for Rainfall-Runoff Modelling Considering Soil Moisture," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(10), pages 3519-3533, August.
    6. J. Y. Ma & Z. B. Li & B. Ma, 2020. "Influences of revegetation mode on soil water dynamic in gully slope of the Chinese Loess hilly–gully region," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 104(1), pages 51-72, October.
    7. Iraj Saeedpanah & Ramin Golmohamadi Azar, 2017. "New Analytical Expressions for Two-Dimensional Aquifer Adjoining with Streams of Varying Water Level," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(1), pages 403-424, January.
    8. M. Mohammad Rezapour Tabari, 2015. "Conjunctive Use Management under Uncertainty Conditions in Aquifer Parameters," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(8), pages 2967-2986, June.
    9. Roland Barthel & Stefan Banzhaf, 2016. "Groundwater and Surface Water Interaction at the Regional-scale – A Review with Focus on Regional Integrated Models," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(1), pages 1-32, January.
    10. Roland Barthel & Stefan Banzhaf, 2016. "Groundwater and Surface Water Interaction at the Regional-scale – A Review with Focus on Regional Integrated Models," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(1), pages 1-32, January.
    11. Prashant K. Srivastava, 2017. "Satellite Soil Moisture: Review of Theory and Applications in Water Resources," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3161-3176, August.
    12. David Payne & Amvrossios Bagtzoglou & Glenn Warner & Lanbo Liu, 2014. "Alternatives to Reduce Pumping Effects in Glacial Stratified Drift Aquifers During Periods of Low Stream Flow," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(7), pages 1973-1989, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:30:y:2016:i:1:p:149-165. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.