Application of Abstraction-Recharge method on seawater recession in Asaluyeh aquifer, Iran

Today, the impact of excessive seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers has become a global problem and different solutions have been proposed to restore the aquifer. In the ADR compound method, saline water is first extracted from the aquifer, then desalinated, and finally recharged into the aquifer. In this study, the Asaluyeh coastal aquifer in the south of Iran with considerable salinity intrusion has been selected and the effect of the ADR method on it has been mathematically simulated. The SEAWAT dispersive code has been chosen for this purpose and ran on unsteady-state for a period of 50 years. The results show that the location of the recharge well, the amount of desalination flow rate, and the cost of transferring the desalinated water to the recharge well are the key parameters of this combined method. In general, the aquifer regeneration process in this method is not a short or medium-term process. In the studied area, the injection of 6600 m3/d of desalinated water in three separate positions of the recharge well resulted in a 31% reduction in the volume of brackish water in the aquifer after 50 years.