Evaluating Artificial Recharge Needs of Aquifer

Abstract

Ground water is in many cases the only source of drinking water for several Catalan coastal towns in the northeastern corner of Spain. In practice, the management of these water resources is accomplished with only one objective in mind: to supply, regardless the cost, the amount of water required in every time period. Considerations of minimum pumping costs or maximum net benefits are of secondary interest. The aquifer of the Ridaura River is an example of this situation. In this paper we present, first, a way for evaluating the capacity of this aquifer for fulfilling the current pumping policy and second, a stochastic dynamic programming model for planning purposes. The aquifer is considered as an underground reservoir capable of being managed by the same models as the surface reservoirs are, and capable of receiving natural and artificial recharge. Furthermore, reliability implications derived from the use of the decision policy resulting from the proposed mathematical model will be presented.