WADE - Floodwater Recharge of Alluvial Aquifers in Dryland Environments

WADE aimed to assess long-term (decades to centuries) water resources in semi-arid and hyper-arid ephemeral river basins by determining long-term transmission losses from floods and quantifying floodwater recharge into alluvial aquifers. An innovative approach was applied based on the following research themes: 1) surface and sub-surface hydrological monitoring in order to quantify transmission losses through the river bed and into the alluvial aquifers; 2) palaeoflood hydrology to determine long-term flood magnitude and frequency in order to quantify the frequency of recharging flood events; 3) socio-economic research to identify the current and historical use of alluvial aquifer groundwater within the local communities and to understand the relationships between water resources, climatic variability and development. The principal goal was to provide practical solutions for improved integrated water resource management.