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This gradient is reflected in the common recharge objectives and applications for planned <br />groundwater recharge. Injection operations are often associated with more highly treated <br />water and efficient recovery of water to supplement municipal water supplies. Passive <br />infiltration is favored when direct recovery is less certain or lower priority and recharge is <br />used to augment widely distributed agricultural irrigation water supplies or to produce an <br />incremental benefit to widespread aquifer recharge. <br />Categorizing recharge characteristics according to the approach and techniques applied is <br />useful because many relevant economic, legal, and regulatory attributes (or need thereof) <br />are reflected in the nature of recharge applications. The prevalent categories of recharge <br />activities have important implications for both surface and groundwater. Consequently, <br />these characteristics provide a framework for future policy and program development to <br />account for and integrate groundwater recharge in a watershed perspective. <br />Recharge in Water Management <br />Surface water and groundwater interactions are often inseparable. Aquifers discharge to <br />streams and affect surface water; conversely, streams recharge to aquifers and affect <br />groundwater. Water quality, quantity, and aquatic environments are inextricably linked <br />together. Moreover, natural processes such as precipitation and human activities influence <br />the water cycle and interactions. However, groundwater is hard to see and difficult to <br />measure, and even more difficult is quantifying the relationships between surface and <br />groundwater. Thus, water management strategies, policies, and institutional approaches <br />have largely ignored these vital connections. <br />Although groundwater recharge has been practiced for decades, interest and experience <br />with groundwater recharge projects and programs are growing, prompted to a substantial <br />degree by the demonstration program. Recharge opportunities can offer a practical and <br />promising alternative for storing water underground and to restore and replenish depleted <br />groundwater resources. Groundwater recharge can also offer other unique advantages as <br />an important process and management tool to enhance opportunities for conjunctive use <br />of surface and groundwater and provide an effective means to maximize water efficiency <br />and overall beneficial uses of the total water resource. <br />Cost Allocation, Economic, and Institutional Considerations <br />Ideally, the costs of recharge should be allocated efficiently and equitably according to the <br />actual benefits of improved water management. In practice, costs are recovered to some <br />extent through user fees; however, the incremental benefits and costs (direct and indirect) <br />are difficult to isolate for recharge benefits that are delayed for long periods of time or are <br />distributed unevenly (over large areas or over time). Consequently, economic incentives <br />and cost sharing may be valid needs, either to overcome the unpaid costs of previous <br />groundwater depletion or to promote recharge as an emerging technology and an integral <br />component in sustainable water management. <br />E8 High Plains States Groundwater Demonstration Program <br />