How Subsurface Water Technologies (SWT) can Provide Robust, Effective, and Cost-Efficient Solutions for Freshwater Management in Coastal Zones

Koen G. Zuurbier (), Klaasjan J. Raat, Marcel Paalman, Ate T. Oosterhof and Pieter J. Stuyfzand
Additional contact information
Koen G. Zuurbier: KWR Watercycle Research Institute
Klaasjan J. Raat: KWR Watercycle Research Institute
Marcel Paalman: KWR Watercycle Research Institute
Ate T. Oosterhof: Vitens NV
Pieter J. Stuyfzand: KWR Watercycle Research Institute

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2017, vol. 31, issue 2, No 6, 687 pages

Abstract: Abstract Freshwater resources in coastal zones are limited while demands are high, resulting in problems like seasonal water shortage, overexploitation of freshwater aquifers, and seawater intrusion. Three subsurface water technologies (SWT) that can provide robust, effective, and cost-efficient solutions to manage freshwater resources in the subsurface are evaluated using groundwater modelling and validation at field-scale: (1) ASR-coastal to store freshwater surpluses in confined brackish-saline aquifers for recovery in times of demand, (2) the Freshkeeper to counteract salinization of well fields by interception and desalination of upconing brackish groundwater, and (3) the Freshmaker to combine ASR and Freshkeeper to enlarge the volume of natural freshwater lenses for later abstraction. The evaluation indicates that SWT can be used in various hydrogeological settings for various hydrogeological problems like seawater intrusion, upconing, and bubble drift during ASR and have significant economic benefits. Although only sporadically applied to date, we foresee that SWT will stimulate (cost-)efficient and sustainable exploitation of various freshwater sources (like groundwater, rainwater, treated waste water, surface water) in coastal zones. Prolonged SWT testing in the current pilots, replication of SWT in other areas worldwide, and the development of technical and non-technical support tools are required to facilitate potential end-users in investment decision making and SWT implementation.

Keywords: Aquifer storage and recovery; Coastal aquifers; Freshwater; Salinization; Seasonal water shortage; Subsurface water technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-016-1294-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:31:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1294-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-016-1294-x

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().