| Description |
Increasing the storage capacity for water resources is a critical component in the development, agricultural and restoration plans throughout Florida. The recharge of untreated and treated surface water into specific aquifer zones is one technology currently used to meet this overall objective. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR: www.sfwmd.gov/asr) is one version of this technology that is currently being developed within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP: http://www.evergladesrestoration.gov).
One of the regulatory criteria for ASR systems and any other groundwater recharge technology is the microbiological quality of the recharged and recovered water. Accordingly, all water must be filtered and/or disinfected (e.g., UV irradiation) prior to recharge. Additionally, a recent study found native geochemical conditions (i.e., anaerobic and extremely reduced ORP) in specific aquifer zones inactivated E. coli, an indicator of the microbiological quality of water, during storage times typical of ASR systems (Lisle, 2016).
Recently the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies of Sciences convened a committee to review the status, progress and remaining uncertainties of using ASR in the CERP (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/21724/review-of-the-everglades-aquifer-storage-and-recovery-regional-study) (National Research Council, 2015). In the section titled Source Water Quality and Suitability for Recharge the committee identified the need to inactivation rate data for a wider range of organisms, including viruses, under field conditions as one of the remaining uncertainties.
Additional remaining uncertainties which were identified by the NRC committee included, (1) determining the mechanism(s) by which phosphorus is removed from the recharged water during storage and (2) the biofilm development potential of recharged water. |
