ABCWUA Aquifer Storage and Recovery

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) is implementing aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) projects for conjunctive management of the surface water and groundwater resources using treated San Juan-Chama water diverted from the Rio Grande. The purpose of the project is to recharge the Santa Fe Group aquifer system of the Middle Rio Grande Basin and to recover the water for later use. The ABCWUA implemented a demonstration project using instream infiltration at Bear Canyon. The project included two recharge periods in 2008 and 2009 and was successful, with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer recognizing an initial storage account of 1073 acre-feet of water. Based on the success of the Bear Canyon demonstration project, the ABCWUA plans to operate the Bear Canyon project on an ongoing basis, and is currently seeking the full-scale permit from the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer for the project. The ABCWUA also plans to develop additional recharge projects, and is currently working on the Large-Scale ASR Project, which will establish a long-term drought reserve using treated surface water from the ABCWUA’s drinking water treatment plant (DWTP). This project includes recharge demonstration using vadose zone and deep injection wells at the DWTP, and retrofit of existing production wells for use as ASR wells. Webster Well 1 was the first production well to be retrofitted, and a brief water quality test was completed using Webster Well 1 during 2013. The ABCWUA is currently seeking a demonstration permit from the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer to operate a longer demonstration project at Webster Well 1. This presentation discusses the ABCWUA ASR projects and future plans.