Water regulation subsurface
Description
This map gives an overview of promising measures, spread across the Netherlands, to make use of the storage capacity of the subsurface.
The storage capacity for water in the subsurface offers many possibilities, both for freshwater supply during dry periods and for collecting precipitation and high water peaks. In both cases, the subsurface acts as a regulatory buffer to absorb and reduce the effect of extreme climatic conditions.
The ecosystem service provided by the subsurface in this case is the retention of area-specific water in upstream areas. These are also called mountains at the source. For periods of drought, utilization of the storage capacity offers opportunities for the freshwater supply, because the salvaged water remains available for a longer period of time, both for abstractions (drinking water, irrigation water, process water) and via groundwater flow. The latter leads to a more constant feeding of wet (well-dependent) nature reserves.
For a selection of seven water-regulating measures (from the Fresh Water Options Optimzer; Van Bakel et al., 2014) mapped the input of the physical properties of the subsurface. An 8th measure was added later (see further in the explanatory memorandum)
These measures are as follows:
(1) drains2buffer - construction of deeper, regeblare drains in areas with thin rainwater lenses in salty seepage areas with the aim of thickening the freshwater lens.
(2) Adjustable drainage - replacing traditional drainage with adjustable and/or climate-adaptive drainage.
(3) creek back infiltration – increase of groundwater level by active infiltration through drains.
(4) Freshmaker – injection of fresh water into saline aquifers via horizontal wells. In times of scarcity, the fresh water is reclaimed. Injection (at 5 – 10m depth) is combined with abstraction of salt water at a slightly greater depth (15 – 20m) to keep the freshwater bubble in place.
(5) vertical ASR – Aquifer Storage and recovery – injection of freshwater during periods of surplus through a vertical well and abstraction of that same water through the same well in times of scarcity.
(6) water conservation through the construction of weirs that increase both surface water and groundwater levels.
(7) water conservation by ditch bottom elevation (Figure 1) which increases the drainage base
(8) MAR – Managed Aquifer Recharge – active infiltration in case of surplus; recovery by pumps or by natural roads downstream as a feed for stream systems and other wet nature areas.
Resources
| Name |
Format |
Description |
Link |
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0 |
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https://data.rivm.nl/geo/ank/wms?request=GetCapabilities |
|
57 |
|
https://data.rivm.nl/data/ank/DANK017_waterregulering_ondergrond.zip |
|
34 |
|
https://data.rivm.nl/meta/srv/api/records/b01a9e05-5c09-4757-898f-ca78613c8bbf/attachments/DANK017_Waterregulering_Ondergrond.png |
Tags
- grondwater
- landbouw
- watervoorziening
- berging