Groundwater Replenishes Much Faster Than Scientists Previously Thought

Research
By Rachel Fritts; EOS Groundwater makes up most of the world’s liquid fresh water and might play a bigger role in sustaining streams and plant life than previously thought. Credit: Dr. Andrew Fisher/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.  Source: Geophysical Research Letters A large part of the world’s liquid freshwater supply comes from groundwater. These underground reservoirs of water—which are stored in soil and aquifers—feed streams, sustain agricultural lands, and provide drinking water to hundreds of millions of people. For that reason, researchers are keen to understand how quickly surface water replenishes, or “recharges,” groundwater stores. But measuring a vast, fluid, underground resource is easier said than done. In a new study, Berghuijs et al. found that recharge rates might double previous estimates. The research team produced an updated model of groundwater recharge using a recent global synthesis…
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EPA Announces $263 Million WIFIA Loan to Boise, Idaho to Modernize Wastewater Infrastructure and help recharge the Boise River water supply

Idaho News, National News
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $263 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the City of Boise, Idaho, to support its Water Renewal Services Capital Investments Project. With this WIFIA loan, EPA is helping the City of Boise improve wastewater treatment processes to protect the Boise River’s water quality and ultimately recharge the drought burdened Boise River with high quality effluent. “Maintaining and upgrading water infrastructure is essential for the health of a community like Boise, which is a fast-growing city struggling with drought,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox said. “Thanks to this WIFIA loan, the City of Boise can upgrade wastewater treatment technology to better safeguard the Boise River and even help recharge its water supply while providing good-paying jobs.”…
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Idaho Water Resource Board invests in aquifer recharge, irrigation efficiency projects

Idaho News
Capital Press The Idaho Water Resource Board’s Milepost 31 Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer recharge site. Projects adding to recharge capacity are among those funded by the board Nov. 18. Boosting aquifer levels and improving irrigation delivery efficiency are the focus of Idaho Water Resource Board moves to financially support several projects in the state’s south-central and southeast regions. The board Nov. 18 approved a $14.1 million loan to Raft River Recharge Group. Plans call for building a pump station on the Snake River, a 13-mile pipeline, and recharge basins to add water to a declining aquifer in a state-designated critical groundwater management area. The declining aquifer levels are a key factor in intermittent surface flows on the Raft River, a Snake tributary. Most farmers are now pumping groundwater for irrigation,…
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