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Inventory of managed aquifer recharge schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Abstract

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is being used worldwide as a tool to overcome distinct water management challenges. An analysis of MAR case studies from different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was carried out as part of a larger study focused on the compilation of a global inventory of MAR schemes which aims at providing guidance for the planning and implementation of new MAR projects. The MAR case studies were collected from freely available scientific publications. These were classified according to the specific MAR type developed, main objective and the source of the influent water. Most reported cases (>60%) were found in Brazil, followed by Mexico and Chile. The main MAR type reported in LAC is in-channel modification, which represents more than half of the reported MAR schemes, and the main influent water used is river water and storm water (together accounting for >90% of cases). Approximately two-thirds of the MAR cases in LAC were developed to maximize natural storage. Publication of freely available scientific reports on MAR in LAC is scarce; however, this is not due to lack of MAR projects, but rather suggests insufficient motivation in sharing experiences with the international scientific community. Nevertheless, MAR has been successfully implemented in at least ten LAC countries. For four of these, estimates of annual recharge volume are available—Mexico (156 Mm3), Cuba (115 Mm3), Peru (36 Mm3) and Costa Rica (4 Mm3)—and a further 30 Mm3 are crudely but conservatively calculated for the remaining LAC countries (mostly in Brazil) bringing the total to approximately 340 Mm3. The application of MAR is expected to grow further as a sustainable and reliable tool to address challenges related to climate, population and economic changes.

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Abbreviations

EC:

Electrical conductivity

EMBRAPA:

Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation

IGRAC:

International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre

IMTA:

Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (Mexican Institute of Water Technology)

INTA:

Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (National Agricultural Technology Institute)

LAC:

Latin America and the Caribbean

MAR:

Managed aquifer recharge

MOP:

Ministerio de Obras Públicas

UN:

United Nations

UNSD:

United Nations Statistics Division

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by the Programa de Innovación y Capital Humano para la Competitividad (PINN) of Costa Rica through a fellowship grant provided to José Pablo Bonilla Valverde, by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through a fellowship grant provided to Eduardo Bernardo da Silva and Hugo Pivaral Vivar and by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research through a research grant provided to the Junior Research Group INOWAS, project no. 01LN1311A. The authors would like to thank the reviewers and the editor for the suggestions made to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, San Jose, Costa Rica

    José P. Bonilla Valverde

  2. Department of Hydrosciences, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    José P. Bonilla Valverde, Catalin Stefan, Eduardo Bernardo da Silva & Hugo L. Pivaral Vivar

  3. Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Adriana Palma Nava

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  1. José P. Bonilla Valverde
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Contributions

Catalin Stefan conceived and designed the methodology and provided final corrections. José Pablo Bonilla Valverde collected and analyzed the results and wrote the first draft of the paper. Eduardo Bernardo da Silva collected and analyzed the data from Brazil and Hugo Leonel Pivaral Vivar collected and analyzed the data from the rest of the Latin American countries. Adriana Palma collected and analyzed the data from Mexico and provided feedback on the written manuscript.

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Correspondence to José P. Bonilla Valverde.

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The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

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This article is part of the special issue on Managed Aquifer Recharge.

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Bonilla Valverde, J.P., Stefan, C., Palma Nava, A. et al. Inventory of managed aquifer recharge schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 4, 163–178 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-018-0231-y

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