A Revised Brackish Water Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Site Selection Index for Water Resources Management

The performance of a brackish water aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) system is controlled by complex interactions among many variables. Some of these variables can be combined into dimensionless parameters to investigate the physical behavior and performance of an ASR well. Previous research has demonstrated that six dimensionless numbers are most useful for prediction of general performance of planned ASR projects. This paper first summarizes the critical literature and outlines the six dimensionless parameters and their various variable components. Then the new index is developed using the three best parameters. The three dimensionless parameters (RI, R_ASR and D) are normalized, scaled from 0 to 1, and combined through averaging to create a revised “Brackish Water ASR Site Selection Index” or I_ASR. The newly revised index builds upon previous work but also adds new variables important to site selection planning. In order to provide further validity to the index, it is validated against 29 ASR projects in Florida, USA. Finally, the use of the index is demonstrated for the Upper Floridan Aquifer in South Florida, USA. The demonstrated use of the new index illustrates how it can be useful for future ASR planning.