Surfrider Foundation USA - Palm Beach County Chapter

Aquifer "Storage" and "Recovery" Magic
Proponents of Aquifer "Storage" and "Recovery" ("ASR") in Florida refer to the injected water as a "bubble" in the aquifer.

Florida's aquifer system is filled with cracks (fractures), cavities, and passages where ground water can move very rapidly for miles from the injection location.

The illustration below is from Florida's Groundwater Quality Monitoring Program. It shows the types of groundwater 'expressways' that occur throughout Florida's aquifer system.

Because of these underground expressways, it would require "MAGIC" for large volumes of injected fluids to remain in a "bubble" in Florida's aquifer system.

(These ASR simulations take time to load)

aquifer cross-section from Maddox et al. 1992. Florida's Ground Water Quality Monitoring Program:
Background Hydrogeochemistry. Florida Geology Special Publication No. 34.

Injections into Florida's aquifer system, whether for "ASR" or other injection wells (like treated sewage), can result in migration in any direction (horizontally and vertically) into streams, lakes, wetlands, and even Florida's coastal waters.

Florida's "ASR" wells and other injection wells (like treated sewage) are constructed near streams, lakes, wetlands, and Florida's coastal waters.

Injection wells located close to those surface water resources means that whatever is injected can migrate rapidly into those surface waters.

It also means that when they decide to "recover" what was injected (for "ASR"), the "recovery" can include water from those surface waters, sucked out from below.