Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Coordination

ABSTRACT: The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) relies heavily on Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) technology. The CERP includes approximately 333 ASR wells in South Florida with a total capacity of over 1.6 billion gallons per day. Much of the 'new water' in the CERP is derived from storing excess water that was previously discharged to the ocean. However, this new water would not be very useful unless there is a place to store it for use during dry periods. ASR is included in the CERP as one mechanism to provide this storage. Despite construction of some ASR facilities by local utilities, there remains a considerable number of significant technical and engineering-related uncertainties. Key Findings: 1) An analysis was conducted to describe and interpret the lithology of a part of the Upper Floridan aquifer penetrated by the Regional Observation Monitoring Program (ROMP) 29A test corehole in Highlands County, Florida. Information obtained was integrated into a conceptual model that delineates likely CERP ASR storage zones and confining units in the context of sequence stratigraphy. Carbonate sequence stratigraphy correlation strategies appear to reduce risk of miscorrelation of key ground-water flow units and confining units. 2) A hierarchical arrangement of rock unit cycles can be identified; High Frequency Cycle formed of peritidal, subtidal, and deeper subtidal) form High Frequency Sequence, and those can be grouped into Cycle Sequences. There appears to be a spatial relation among wells that penetrate water-bearing rocks having relatively high and low transmissivities. 3) Assuming hydrogeologic conditions observed in the ROMP 29A well are representative of in south-central Florida, the uppermost (Lower Hawthorn-Suwannee) of two likely CERP ASR storage zones does not appear to be viable with respect to the proposed 200 CERP ASR facility planned to be sited northwest of Lake Okeechobee. Insufficient data were available to adequately characterize the lower flow zone contained within the Avon Park Formation.