Managed aquifer recharge in Costa Rica: a tool for managing water scarcity during the dry season (MARTROP)
Project type
Doctoral Research Project
Funding
Programa de Innovación Tecnológica (PINN) del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología de Costa Rica (MICITT)
Duration
01.2015 - 11.2017
Cooperation partners
Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA)
Background
Costa Rica has a vast quantity of water resources in rivers and aquifers but these resources are not evenly distributed in time or space. The country has experienced periods of shortage in its water resources at the end of the dry season. This is reflected in the agriculture and water supply systems, magnified by a greater demand of resources from population growth and reduction of resources due to climate change.
Objectives
The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the suitability of the managed aquifer recharge (MAR) techniques in the Costa Rican environmental conditions in order to regulate the water temporal distribution. The project aims at achieving the following specific objectives:
- to develop a GIS-based methodology for the selection of suitable sites for the application of MAR in Costa Rica;
- to assess the applicability potential of MAR in the Lower Left Bank of the Machuca River Aquifer System;
- to estimate the effect of technical and operational limitations of MAR on the system's efficiency in a laboratory scale aquifer-tank system.
Dissertation
- José Pablo Bonilla Valverde (2017)
Managed aquifer recharge assessment to overcome water scarcity during the dry season in Costa Rica. Dissertation, Technische Universität Dresden, 2017
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Publications (selection)
- Bonilla Valverde, J.P., Stefan, C., Palma Nava, A., da Silva, E.B., Pivaral Vivar, H.L. (2018)
Inventory of managed aquifer recharge schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 4: 163–178. doi: 10.1007/s40899-018-0231-y - Bonilla Valverde, J.P., Blank, C., Roidt, M., Schneider, L., Stefan, C. (2016)
Application of a GIS Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for the Identification of Intrinsic Suitable Sites in Costa Rica for the Application of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) through Spreading Methods. Water, 8(9): 391. doi:10.3390/w8090391
Researcher
Dr. José Bonilla