Artificial recharge effects in a coastal aquifer located in the semi-arid environment of Korba-Mida, Cap-Bon Peninsula, Tunisia

Abstract

The Korba-Mida aquifer, one of the most productive in Tunisia, is heavily suffering from water scarcity and salinization due to overexploitation and consequent seawater intrusion problems. The aquifer is located in an important tourist, industrial and, above all, agricultural area. As a result, the use of treated wastewater is being considered as an alternative to the use of both brackish and/or freshwater for irrigation practices. For ultimate benefit from the water management, it was proposed to fully utilize the treated wastewater directly to perform artificial recharge in the depleted aquifer, using three basins (Gaaloul et al., 2012a). This paper follows a vast number of work and publications done in the area, focusing on the description and measurement of the influence of on-going artificial recharge (AR) experiments in the surrounding groundwater quantity and quality. The data was collected during July 2012 by using several probes located in the surrounding wells at different depths. The results allowed to conclude that there is a clear increase of the piezometric level due to the recharge (1500 m3/d), and that the AR had an overall beneficial impact in the decrease of groundwater electrical conductivity.