Aquifer Recharge: An Operational Drought-Management Strategy in North London

The North London Artificial Recharge scheme, which comprises thirty-seven wells and boreholes, is designed to boost resources during a drought. All sources discharge groundwater either to the Lee Valley reservoirs or the New River during the abstraction, which avoids the need for expensive on-site water treatment and significantly enhances the cost effectiveness of the scheme. Fully treated drinking water provides the source of gravity-fed artificial-recharge water, via the normal distribution system.
This paper describes the strategy which was introduced in 1997, in response to a deteriorating water-resources situation. Abstraction occurred over a period of four months prior to the onset of autumnal winter rainfall. Daily abstraction rates peaked at 150 Ml/d, and a total of about 10 700 Ml were withdrawn.