Managed Aquifer Recharge Strategies for Sustainable Water Management

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) encompasses a suite of techniques designed to enhance groundwater reserves by intentionally directing surplus or treated water into subsurface formations. By harnessing spreading basins, injection wells and infiltration galleries, MAR mitigates over-extraction, improves water security and supports ecosystem balance. Strategically sited schemes can also attenuate pollution and curb seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers. Effective implementation relies on characterising hydrogeological conditions, selecting appropriate recharge methods and ensuring water quality through natural attenuation within the aquifer matrix. Governance frameworks, economic incentives and stakeholder engagement are crucial to overcome land-use constraints and common-pool resource challenges. Across climatic zones, MAR offers resilience to drought and variable runoff by creating flexible subterranean storage that complements surface reservoirs. Recent advances in incentivisation, decision support and integrated management highlight the growing role of MAR within conjunctive water-use portfolios, advancing sustainable supply, ecological benefits and resource reliability.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have introduced recharge net metering (ReNeM), a market-based mechanism to encourage private-land participation in aquifer recharge. By formalising credits for infiltration practices, this approach aligns groundwater replenishment with stakeholder benefits and achieves cost advantages over conventional supply options. A detailed cost–benefit analysis in a Californian agricultural basin demonstrated that ReNeM can deliver multiple economic and environmental gains while meeting recharge targets at lower expense. The model emphasises transparent accounting of recharge volumes and fosters collaboration among agencies, landholders and community groups to expand recharge capacity without heavy infrastructure investment.

Managed Aquifer Recharge Strategies for Sustainable Water Management publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in managed aquifer recharge strategies for sustainable water management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR): Intentional replenishment of groundwater by directing water into subsurface formations.

Recharge Net Metering (ReNeM): A credit-based mechanism that incentivises private landholders to participate in infiltration and recharge.

Abstraction-Desalination-Recharge (ADR): A cyclic approach combining groundwater extraction, desalination of saline water and recharge to combat intrusion.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA): A structured method for ranking and selecting sites based on multiple weighted environmental and economic factors.

References

1. Recharge net metering (ReNeM) is a novel, cost-effective management strategy to incentivize groundwater recharge. Nature Water (2023).
2. Assessing the suitability of desalination techniques for hydraulic barriers. npj Clean Water (2024).
3. Geospatial technique and multi-criteria evaluation to select suitable sites for groundwater recharge with reclaimed water in arid and semi-arid regions. Water Cycle (2025).