Groundwater recharge amidst focused stormwater infiltration

Abstract

Distributed, infiltration‐based approaches to stormwater management are being implemented to mitigate effects of urban development on water resources. One of the goals of this type of storm water management, sometimes called low impact development or green infrastructure, is to maintain groundwater recharge and stream base flow at predevelopment levels. However, the connection between infiltration‐based stormwater management and groundwater recharge is not straightforward. Water infiltrated through stormwater facilities may be stored in soil moisture, taken up by evapotranspiration or contribute to recharge and eventually base flow. This study focused on a 1.1 km2 suburban, low impact development watershed in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA, that was urbanized and contained 73 infiltration‐based stormwater facilities. Continuous water table measurements were used to quantify the movement of infiltrated stormwater. Time series analyses were performed on hydrographs of 7 wells, and the episodic master recession method was used. Persistence in water levels, as measured by autocorrelation function, was found to be positively related to depth to water. Storm properties (precipitation rate and duration) and well location (proximity to the nearest stream) were significant in driving episodic recharge to precipitation ratios. The well that had the highest recharge to precipitation ratios and water table rises of up to 1.5 m in response to storm events was located furthest from the stream and down gradient of stormwater infiltration locations. This work may be considered in evaluating the effects of planned watershed‐scale infiltration‐based stormwater management on groundwater flow systems.

Statistical analyses of the effect of a drainage tunnel on landslide hydrogeological characteristics

“…The response characteristics are influenced by many factors such as antecedent rainfall, rainfall intensity, characteristics of rainfall events, permeability, soil depth, and structure of slopes (Appels et al, ; Ascott, Marchant, Macdonald, McKenzie, & Bloomfield, ; Bhaskar et al, ; Hopp & McDonnell, ; Lee et al, ; Major & Iverson, ; Padilla, Onda, Iida, Takahashi, & Uchida, ; Xu et al, ). In this area, most factors did not change.…”

Design measures to mitigate the impact of shallow groundwater on hydrologic performance of permeable pavements

“…Normally, well-designed GI such as PP is beneficial to the hydrologic cycle in urban areas through reducing surface runoff, enhancing infiltration, recharging groundwater and streamflow, and so forth (Bell, McMillan, Clinton, & Jefferson, 2016;Bhaskar, Hogan, Nimmo & Perkins, 2018). However, these effects may not be positive in areas of shallow groundwater, much evidence has also shown that shallow groundwater can affect the performance of PP and its hydrologic benefit.…”

Episodic and Continuous Recharge Estimation from High‐Resolution Well Records

“…The major reason for this is apparently the well's proximity to a shallow, vegetated ~1000 m 2 recharge basin approximately 50 m to the north, which causes preferential flow to the water table compared to the surrounding residential land use. Few studies have investigated the role of recharge basins in focusing groundwater recharge (Bhaskar et al 2018).…”