Water recharges areas on the highlands of the micro watersheds Palo, Marin and San Rafaelito, San Carlos, Costa Rica
The inappropriate land use inside the Water Recharge Areas (WRA) threatens groundwater resources. I determined all the locations with potential for groundwater recharge through soil water balance, to determinate the coefficients of soil texture (kfc), slope (Kp) and types of vegetal coverage (Kv). A Geographic Information System (GIS) generated maps for soil texture, slope, plant cover and precipitation. The over-imposed maps identified 25 WRA and their potential evapotraspiration (PET), initial humidity (Sih), humidity retention of soil, apparent density (ρa), basic infiltration of soil (fc), interception of the rain and depth of the roots that extract water. This was added to a soil water balance equation. In total, 25 WRA have an important potential aquifer recharge (Rp). This is largely due to the physical characteristics of the soil, which favor humidity retention and direct percolation. However, the WRA with little forest cover has little ability to store humidity and it is contribution is given through percolation, mainly during the rains. Forest areas stored more humidity and there is flow the whole year, even without precipitation. Rp in all areas tended to be moderate (1064 to 2073mm/year), mainly because the real evapotraspiration (RET) generated some homogeneity in the Rp. More than 23 million m3 of water are recharged in the studied area annually.
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | spa |
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Universidad Estatal a Distancia, Costa Rica
2010
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.uned.ac.cr/index.php/cuadernos/article/view/157 |
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