An Assessment of Groundwater Recharge on the Channel Island of Jersey
In: Water and environment journal, Band 12, Heft 6, S. 445-451
ISSN: 1747-6593
AbstractOn the Channel Island of Jersey, a third of the total water requirements are obtained from groundwater sources. A reliable estimate of recharge is necessary for sustainable groundwater management. Past resource management has been limited, partly because the rate of recharge is uncertain.This paper describes the application of three independent methods of estimating recharge: (a) chloride balance, (b) stream baseflow analysis, and (c) rainfall‐recharge‐runoff simulation. All three methods produce reasonably consistent results, indicating that long‐term recharge is 16–19% of average annual rainfall, and results of modelling indicate that groundwater abstraction may have exceeded recharge in 5 out of 28 years. These findings have important implications for the management of the island's water resources.