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Artificial Recharge of Ground Water in Colorado <br />A Statewide Assessment <br />Manage /Mitigate Water Quality <br />Physical, chemical, and biological processes in an aquifer have the potential for modifying water <br />quality. AR can take advantage of these natural processes, through soil /aquifer treatment <br />(Figure III -5), to improve water quality of the water supply in the following situations: <br />Improvement of surface -water quality — AR can be used when surface water requires <br />a level of treatment prior to utilization. Bacterial digestion and physical- chemical <br />processes (geo- purification) in an aquifer can act as a natural treatment facility. <br />Surface water may contain high levels of suspended or dissolved solids that must be <br />removed before the water can be placed to beneficial use. AR mitigation is <br />accomplished by capturing the runoff for recharge infiltration and geo - purification <br />through an aquifer. The water is then recovered from the aquifer some distance away <br />from the active channel through wells or infiltration galleries and put to beneficial <br />use. <br />Improvement of ground -water quality — AR can be used to improve ground -water <br />quality. High quality surface water can be recharged to an aquifer where the ambient <br />ground -water quality is impaired by naturally occurring dissolved solids, producing a <br />lens of higher quality water. Recovered water is of higher quality than the ambient <br />ground water. <br />• Disinfection byproducts (DBP) reduction — Chlorination of water can produce <br />elevated concentrations of DBP's (trihalomethane compounds: chloroform, <br />bromoform, dichlorobromomethane, and dibromochloromethane). Treated drinking <br />water can be used as the source water for AR. Dilution and geo - purification in the <br />aquifer will reduce the DBP concentrations in the recovered water. <br />• Wastewater disposal — In this situation, treated wastewater is allowed to infiltrate as <br />an alternative to discharging to surface water. This option typically requires less <br />treatment, therefore less expense for wastewater disposal. <br />11 <br />