The recently constructed reservoir in la Vall d’Uixó allows the storage of 2 Mm3 of surplus water of the Belcaire river to be injected in the aquifer in drought periods. Public and private entities as AQUAMED, IGME, UJI and Coca-Cola Foundation joined efforts to carry out the first pilot test by injecting 310,000 m3 in 2013 and 2014 using two injection wells of 100 m depth. DEMEAU project collaborated in the assessment of the use of reclaimed water from the local waste water treatment plant as an alternative source of recharge water to be implemented in a future stage. The risk assessment performed will provide managers with recommendations about how to deal with emerging pollutants in MAR.
Risk Assessment and summary of field investigations carried out in DEMEAU for this site can be found here.
MAR profile:
| Attribute | Description | |
| Country | Spain | |
| City | Vall d’Uixó | |
| Site name | Aquifer Recharge system of la Vall d’Uixó | |
| Operator name | AQUAMED | |
| Type of MAR (e.g. Well injection and recovery, Aquifer transfer and recovery, bank filtration etc.) | Injection wells | |
| Year commenced | 2012 | |
| Current status | Experimental – pilot scale | |
| Map coordinates | 40.018/ -0.15 | |
| Operational scale (Mm3/a) | Pilot | |
| Objective | Irrigation | |
| Influent source (Type of water used for recharge ) | River water (Reclaimed water in future) | |
| Source water treatment before recharge | Storage pond | |
| No of recharge facilities | 2 injection wells | |
| Hydraulic loading rate (m3/m2 d) | 100 L/s each well | |
| Recharged volume (m3/a) | Puntual | |
| Residence time (d) of recharged water in the sub-surface until recovery | unknown | |
| Aquifer properties | Range of hydraulic conductivity representative for the target aquifer (m/s) | 1.4x10-3 - 3.5×10-4 |
| Lithology of target aquifer | porous | |
| Range of thickness of unsaturated zone (m) | Between 10 – 50 | |
| Thickness of target aquifer (m) | 100 – 500 m | |
| Distance of recovery wells from point of recharge (m) | Unknown (private wells for irrigation) | |
| Recovered volume (Mm3/a) | Unknown (private wells for irrigation) | |
| Recovered infiltrate (%) Average percentage of recovered infiltrate (in case of bank filtration share of bankfiltrate in abstraction wells) | More than 20 wells in the area | |
| No of recovery facilities (e.g. no. of wells, drains) | ||
| Water treatment after recovery | None | |
| Final use of water recharged by the facility | Agriculture, Irrigation of citric crops (orange and clementine) | |