Recharge to mountainous carbonated aquifers in SE Spain: Different approaches and new challenges

As in most semiarid regions, the main source of freshwater in SE Spain is its aquifers, and their exploitation has enabled the development of highly profitable irrigated agriculture and tourism industries. The application of sustainable water management plans requires aquifer recharge to be quantified and its spatial pattern evaluated. This paper gives a comprehensive review of various recharge studies in mountainous carbonated aquifers, the most important groundwater reservoirs in SE Spain. Quantification of potential recharge rates and their spatial variability are illustrated using satellite-based modeling and tracer techniques. Actual recharge figures from the application of a lumped model based on water table fluctuations are also presented. Potential recharge relative to actual recharge is around 1 in small aquifers and flat areas and may increase up to 1.3 in heterogeneous mountainous aquifers with deep water levels due to losses of recharge in transit in the vadose zone. The complex interaction between climate, geology, aquifer geometry, topography, soil properties and the degree of karstification prevents the systematization of any particular technique to quantify potential recharge. The use of water table fluctuation methods for actual recharge evaluation requires daily time steps to compute unnoticed small recharge events. Therefore, the monitoring of environmental variables and the use of complementary techniques for comparison are recommended. Despite their importance for the correct assessment of recharge in the region, uncertainty analyses are still scarce, and the natural variability of recharge is unknown in most cases. Effort is required to improve the spatial and temporal characterization of recharge through the integration of interdisciplinary sciences.

► Potential recharge is assessed from satellite-based models and tracer techniques.
► Actual recharge is calculated from a lumped model based on water table fluctuations.
► Potential to actual recharge ratio is up to 1.3 in thick vadose zone aquifers. Uncalibrated recharge uncertainty may be similar to estimates’ magnitude.