ABSTRACT
The Spanish Geological Survey and the regional government of the Balearic Islands have jointly developed a methodology to assess the daily water volume that can be used for artificial recharge of groundwater, optimizing both the size of the recharge plant and the number of days it has to work. This method is suitable for many parts of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, which suffer two types of restriction: the soil factor (high yield agriculture and high levels of urban development for the tourist industry), and water scarcity (very irregular river flows). The methodology has been tested in rivers on the island of Mallorca. The optimal recharge flow is calculated by crossing the curves representing the treated volume versus the maximum treatable volume, while the optimal size of the recharge plant and the number of days it is to work are obtained by crossing the maximum treatable volume with the efficiency and use factor curves.
