Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The global water resources are facing escalating pressures due to climate change, land use change and population growth, a situation that is jeopardizing the security of water supply. Groundwater aquifers, which safeguard a significant portion of the Earth's freshwater resources, are being strained by these changes, especially in regions like Canada where extreme rainfall events and earlier snowmelt amplifies the risk of flooding and threaten water supply security. To address this challenge, Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), a technique that refers to the intentional recharge and storage of water in the subsurface, is emerging as a pivotal solution to manage simultaneously droughts, floods and depleted aquifers. However, widespread implementation of MAR is hindered by technical aspects, from their planning and design to their operation and monitoring. In Canada, MAR implementation is particularly challenging due to the large seasonality and snowmelt-dominated hydrological regimes. Up to now, only a handful of MAR schemes have been implemented in Canada, and there is very limited literature reporting their design, operation and monitoring. Demonstration projects and research efforts are thus needed to build knowledge and expertise to support MAR implementation in Canada. The long-term objective of my research program is to develop and implement sustainable MAR solutions for water resources management in rural and urban contexts in Canada. To advance in this direction, three short-term objectives, aligned with work packages (WP), are identified: 1.Evaluating site suitability and quantifying the recharge efficiency of MAR solutions in watersheds representative of the Canadian context; 2.Investigating the quality of the recharged water to safeguard the integrity of groundwater resources; 3.Designing new tools to assess MAR hydrogeochemical footprint from the local to watershed scale. WP1 assesses site suitability and recharge efficiency using a novel GIS-fuzzy MCDA approach, integrated with hydrological simulations. WP2 addresses water quality during MAR by identifying precursors of geogenic contamination, conducting laboratory experiments, and field-scale assessments. WP3 aims to develop tools for assessing the hydrogeochemical footprint of MAR, involving two pilot schemes and extensive monitoring. The research seeks to enhance MAR's feasibility, water quality, and understanding of its impact from the local to watershed scale. Contributing to the formation of 10 HQP (PhD, MSc and undergraduate students), this research program will also help to develop MAR expertise in the Canadian society and create opportunities for collaboration and knowledge transfer with stakeholders. This DG program corresponds to the very first research effort on MAR technologies in Canada, and represents an essential building block to develop regulatory framework supporting future MAR implementation projects across the country.