A framework for evaluating the performance of recharging and flood control by artificial recharge systems in arid regions

Due to lack of surface water, the most important option for water supply in arid and semi-arid areas is from groundwater resources and one of the engineering measures to use the floods for improving groundwater resources is the implementation of artificial recharge systems. The purpose of the present study is to provide a model-based framework based on several quantitative indicators such as recharge efficiency and flood attenuation rate for assessing the performance of artificial recharge systems. Considering the capabilities of hydrological, hydraulic and seepage models, the combination of these models was used to estimate the parameters of the indicators. Finally, by determining the indices for floods with different return periods, their average values were determined using the expected value. The studied system (Emamzade Abdollah, Sorkheh) had a good performance based on recharge efficiency and flood attenuation rate indicators in events with frequency of more than 0.2, and the average value of these two indicators was 0.54 and 0.93, respectively. Due to the model based characteristic of the proposed framework, it has the potential to be used in similar cases.