NAWAPI ending their 2nd round MAR pilot test
On November 30th 2023, the two rounds of infiltration – storage – recovery at GK1 (170 m depth, brackish aquifer) and GK2 (104 m depth, fresh aquifer) came to an end. Over the last 6 weeks, NAWAPI has been infiltrated about 6000 m³ of treated surface water into the underground. The first round of experiments (5 days infiltration, 5 days storage, 3 days recovery) showed about 1000 m³ of water infiltrated into each of the two wells. The second round of experiments had an extended infiltration for GK1 (about 2700 m³ over 14 days) and similar capacity for GK2 (about 1300 m³ over 7 days) followed by 5 days of storage. The recovery at the brackish well GK1 was only 1000 m³ to maintain a fresh water bubble in the underground surrounding the well.
Red iron precipitation was visible around the discharge area of the recovered water indicating geochemical reactions between oxygen and dissolved iron. It is envisaged that infiltration will continue into both wells in parallel for the next two months operated by HAWASUCO and sponsored by CRMGG.
Red iron precipitation around discharge area of recovered water
Installation of longer infiltration pipe at GK2