 | If you already know about The Recharge Initiative and just want to make a contribution, please choose this link (opens a new page on the UCSC Giving site): DONATE |
What is The Recharge Initiative?
The Recharge Initiative is a focused effort to protect, enhance, and improve the availability and reliability of groundwater resources. These goals will be accomplished through research, teaching, service, and outreach, in collaboration with partners from academia, federal, state, and local agencies, municipalities, and citizen stakeholder groups. The Recharge Initiative will benefit both the quantity and the quality of water resources, and will result in improvements to the sustainability of both surface and groundwater through cooperation and empowerment of institutions, groups, and individuals to understand local resources and develop local solutions. This document is a one-page (two-sided) overview: PDF.
Here is a listing of Frequently Asked Questions about The Recharge Initiative.
Motivation
The United States, and especially California and the rest of the western U.S., is increasingly dependent on groundwater. Although total fresh water withdrawals in the U.S. peaked in the early 1980’s, then leveled off for the next several decades, recent data shows that U.S. fresh water use is increasing again. There were enormous improvements in water efficiency in the last part of the 20th century, particularly in agricultural and urban settings, but increasing populations are overwhelming reductions in per-acre and per-capita use, and many regions are unable to meet demand. Surface supplies are the primary source of fresh water in most of the U.S. during “average” years, but for much of the country during dry periods, and for many parts of the western and southern U.S. in general, groundwater is at least as important as surface water.
California leads the nation in both overall fresh water demand and in use of groundwater. California also faces an ongoing water supply crisis, with many parts of the state not having access to high-quality water where and when it is needed. The problem is exacerbated by limitations in the availability of new surface water storage (and the political challenges in developing new surface storage facilities); a massive, complex, expensive, energy-demanding, and over-allocated system for state-wide conveyance of fresh water; rapid population growth and associated demand for housing, infrastructure, and services in some of the driest parts of the state; a changing climate that influences the magnitude, timing, locations, and forms of fresh water available throughout the year; and the need to plan for variability and uncertainty.
How Can The Recharge Initiative Help?
The Recharge Initiative comprises five primary components:
(1) Delineation of natural groundwater recharge and potential managed recharge areas, through analysis of surface and subsurface data, hydrologic simulation, and generation of data products in formats that are most useful to local agencies and individual (e.g., digital well records, georeferenced “shape” files for use with Geographic Information Systems).
(2) Analysis of groundwater recharge areas, both to provide ground truth for predictions based on surface and subsurface map data, and to quantify recharge dynamics and impacts site-by-site and basin-by-basin. In addition to being valuable on its own, providing a snapshot of present day conditions, this information is important for understanding changes occurring to the hydrologic cycle over time. In decades hence, data sets generated through The Recharge Initiative will provide baseline information that will allow stakeholders, resource managers, and others to quantify the impacts of climate, land use, and other changes to water resources, particularly groundwater. This information also helps to leverage externally funded research projects, and provides student teaching and research opportunities.
(3) Improving groundwater quality through enhanced recharge. Improvements to quality come from dilution of poor-quality groundwater, especially if we can encourage helpful bio-geochemical reactions when surface water is introduced into the subsurface. Field and laboratory studies that link hydrology, geochemistry, and microbiology help with this goal.
(4) Development of research and implementation projects that straddle the boundary between basic and applied research, with specific application to groundwater recharge and related topics involving both water quantity and water quality. Projects are developed from the ground up through collaboration with local stakeholders and resource managers, with participants bringing specific expertise, tools, and resources. Funding are leveraged for each project from multiple sources, including in-kind support such as access to facilities and data sets and staff support. Examples of some recent Recharge Initiative projects are listed below (and you can read a more detailed document with examples); several of these efforts address fundamental hydrogeologic questions – groundwater recharge remains a frontier topic in hydrology, and new methods and tools are needed to understand these parts of the water cycle.
(5) Education and outreach that is integrated with programmatic development. This includes training of undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral researchers, development of information and documentation that is accessible to non-technical audiences, service on public panels and technical advisory committees by Recharge Initiative participants, and involvement in public forums and other events that include genuine conversations between technical experts and stakeholders, not just lecturing from a podium. Those involved in The Recharge Initiative recognize that, as scientists, we need to be educated about the challenging technical aspects of groundwater recharge research, and in terms of local issues, policies, history, economics, and social factors.
Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about groundwater and The Recharge Initiative (opens a new window in your browser).
Selected Recharge Initiative Publications (* current/former student/postdoc):
| *Bruce, M., L. Sherman*, E. Bruno, A. T. Fisher, and M. Kiparsky (2023), Recharge net metering (ReNeM) is a novel, cost-effective management strategy to incentivize groundwater recharge, Nature Water, 1(10), 855-863, doi:10.1038/s44221-023-00141-1. |
| *Pensky, J., A. T. Fisher, G. Gorski*, N. Schrad*, V. Bautista*, and C. Saltikov (2023), Linking nitrate removal, carbon cycling, and mobilization of geogenic trace metals during infiltration for managed recharge, Water Research, 239, 120045, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.120045. |
| *Bruce, Molly, Luke Sherman*, Ellen Bruno, Andrew Fisher, and Michael Kiparsky (2023). The Cost-Effectiveness of Using Rebates to Incentivize Groundwater Recharge, ARE Update 27(2): 1–4. University of California, Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics. https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1703114770/20891/ |
| *Schrad, N., J. Pensky*, G. Gorski*, S. Beganskas*, A. T. Fisher, and C. Saltikov (2022), Soil characteristics and redox properties of infiltrating water are determinants of microbial communities at managed aquifer recharge sites, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., doi:10.1093/femsec/fiac130. |
| *Pensky, J., A. T. Fisher, G. Gorski*, N. Schrad*, H. Dailey*, S. Beganskas*, and C. Saltikov (2022), Enhanced cycling of nitrogen and metals during rapid infiltration: implications for managed recharge, Sci. Total Environ., 838, 156439, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156439. Supplement |
| *Gorski, G., A. T. Fisher, H. Dailey*, S. Beganskas*, and C. Schmidt* (2022), The potential for nitrate removal during infiltration: mapping with machine learning informed by field and laboratory experiments, Hydrol. Proc., e14750, doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14750. |
| *Miller, K., A. T. Fisher, and M. Kiparsky (2021), Incentivizing groundwater recharge in the Pajaro Valley through Recharge Net Metering, Case Studies in the Environment, 5(1), 10.1525/cse.2021.1222393. |
| *Gorski, G., A. T. Fisher, S. Beganskas*, W. B. Weir*, K. Redford*, C. Schmidt*, and C. Saltikov (2019), Field and Laboratory Studies Linking Hydrologic, Geochemical, and Microbiological Processes and Enhanced Denitrification during Infiltration for Managed Recharge, Environmental Science & Technology, 53(16), 9491-9501, 10.1021/acs.est.9b01191. Supplement |
| *Beganskas, S., K. S. Young*, A. T. Fisher, R. Harmon*, and S. Lozano (2019), Runoff modeling of a coastal basin to assess variations in response to shifting climate and land use: Implications for managed recharge, Wat. Resour. Man., 10.1007/s11269-019-2197-4. Supplement |
| *Miller, K., N. G. Nylen, H. Doremus, D. Owen, and A. T. Fisher (2018), Issue brief: Groundwater recharge and beneficial use, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 10.15779/J22D1H. |
| Kiparsky, M., A. T. Fisher, W. M. Hanemann, J. Bowie, R. Kantor, C. Coburn, and B. Lockwood (2018), Issue brief: Recharge net metering to enhance groundwater sustainability, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 10.15779/ J2792D. |
| Escriva-Bou, A., B. Gray, E. Hanak, J. Mount, A. T. Fisher, G. Fogg, J. Gurdak, T. Harter, J. Lund, and J. Viers (2018), California’s Water: Storing WaterRep., 4 pp, Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, CA. |
| *Beganskas, S., G. Gorski*, T. Weathers*, A. T. Fisher, C. Schmidt*, C. Saltikov, K. Redford*, B. Stoneburner*, R. Harmon*, and W. Weir* (2018), A horizontal permeable reactive barrier stimulates nitrate removal and shifts microbial ecology during rapid infiltration for managed recharge, Water Research, 10.1016/j.watres.2018.07.039. |
| *Miller, K., N. G. Nylen, H. Doremus, A. T. Fisher, G. Fogg, D. Owen, S. S. Solis, and M. Kiparsky (2018), Issue brief: California’s stream flow monitoring system is essential for water decision making, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 10.15779/J2864F. |
| *Beganskas, S., and A. T. Fisher (2017), Coupling distributed stormwater collection and managed aquifer recharge: Field application and implications, J. Env. Management, 200, 366-379, doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.05.058. |
| Kiparsky, M., A. Milman, D. Owens, and A. T. Fisher (2017), The importance of institutional design for distributed local-level governance of groundwater: The case of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, Water, 9, doi:doi:10.3390/w9100755. |
| *Lecher, A. L., A. T. Fisher, and A. Paytan (2016), Submarine groundwater discharge in Northern Monterey Bay, California: Evaluation by mixing and mass balance models, Mar. Chem., 179, 44-55, doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2016.01.001. |
| Fisher, A. T. (2015), Groundwater provides and receives hydrologic system services Groundwater, 53(671-672), 10.1111/gwat.12358. |
| *Russo, T. A., Fisher, A. T., Lockwood, B. S. (2014), Assessment of managed aquifer recharge potential and impacts using a geographical information system and numerical modeling, Groundwater, doi: 10.1111/gwat.12213. |
| *Russo, T. A., A. T. Fisher, and D. W. Winslow, Regional and local increases in storm intensity in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, between 1890 and 2010, J. Geophys. Res. – Atmospheres, 18, 1-10, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50225. |
| *Racz, A. J., A. T. Fisher, C. I. Schmidt*, B. Lockwood, and M. Los Huertos, The spatial and temporal dynamics of infiltration during managed aquifer recharge, as quantified using mass balance and thermal methods, Ground Water, doi: 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2011.00875.x, 2011. |
| *Schmidt, C. M., A. T. Fisher, A. J. Racz*, B. Lockwood and M. Los Huertos, Linking denitrification and infiltration rates during managed groundwater recharge, Env. Science & Tech. dx.doi.org/10.1021/es2023626, 2011. |
| *Schmidt, C. M., A. T. Fisher, A. J. Racz, M. Los Huertos, and B. Lockwood, Rapid nutrient load reduction during infiltration as part of managed aquifer recharge in an agricultural groundwater basin, Hydrol. Proc.,10.1002/hyp.8320, 2011. |
| *Hatch, C. E., A. T. Fisher, C. Ruehl*, G. Stemler* (2010), Temporal changes in streambed hydraulic conductivity quantified with time-series thermal methods, J. Hydrol., 389, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.05.046, 276-288 |
| *Ruehl, C., Fisher, A. T., Los Huertos, M., Wankel, S., Kendall, C., *Hatch, C., and Shennan, C. (2007), Nitrate dynamics within the Pajaro River, a nutrient-rich, losing stream, J. N. Am. Benthological Soc., 26(2): 191-206 . [PDF] |
| *Ruehl, C., Fisher, A. T., *Hatch, C., Los Huertos, M., *Stemler, G., and Shennan, C. (2006), Differential gauging and tracer tests resolve seepage fluxes in a strongly-losing stream, J. Hydrology, 300: 235-348. [PDF] |
| *Hatch, C. E., Fisher, A. T., Revenaugh, J. S., Constantz, J., and *Ruehl, C. (2006), Quantifying surface water – ground water interactions using time series analysis of streambed thermal records: method development, Water. Resour. Res., 42(10): 10.1029/2005WR004787. |