Almond Board, lab to look at recharge

In work to understand the potential of using California almond orchards for groundwater recharge, the Almond Board of California has teamed with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to conduct research on subsurface water storage, quality and movement in relation to almond orchard groundwater recharge test sites.

The Almond Board has provided the Berkeley Lab, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, with $105,840 to study what is happening underground at almond orchard groundwater recharge test sites. The research will be led by Peter Nico, head of the lab's Geochemistry Department.

The Almond Board said as groundwater comes under management through the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, research and data are critically needed to fully understand the dynamics of groundwater recharge under a variety of conditions. Recharging returns water to underground aquifers through managed flooding, using seasonal floodwater. The project partners said they believe on-farm groundwater recharge has great potential to help manage California groundwater resources sustainably.

In the longer term, the Almond Board said, results of the research may pave the way for a portion of California's more than 1 million acres of almond orchard ground to be used as on-farm recharge sites, a tool for local groundwater sustainability agencies to use in developing and implementing groundwater sustainability plans.

The board said its new Berkeley Lab partnership expands ongoing work it has funded to identify which orchards are suitable for recharge; gauge groundwater recharge effects on almond trees; and conduct advocacy work to ensure groundwater storage remains a policy priority.