Design for an "engineered sinkhole" to improve, recharge and reduce evapotranspiration in an upstream flood control structure.

Freshwater resource shortages have become a significant problem in the world due to population growth, rural to urban migration, climate change, and flood control. When water is stored above ground, mass amounts of water are lost due to evapotranspiration. In order to curb the freshwater resource shortage we propose the following solutions: 1) preventing some storm water from becoming runoff, 2) keeping water clean, 3) storing water underground, and 4) using water more intelligently. Flood control structures, thousands in the United States alone, have been utilized around the world to reduce peak flow to streams in order to avoid property damage. However, these structures store the excess water with little benefit, reduce recharge, and increase evapotranspiration. Artificial recharge is the process of augmenting groundwater through the intervention of man’s activitieseither intentional or unintentional. The goal in artificially recharging water to an aquifer is to increase the long term stability of a clean water supply to both people and the environment. Water stored in aquifers is not subjected to the evaporative losses of surface storage areas (e.g. lakes and ponds). One of the advantages of storing water in aquifers is that the risks associated with anthropogenic or natural contamination are reduced and environmental and surface impacts are mitigated. This research presents a design to integrate flood control measures with artificial recharge structures in order to provide better flood control and improve www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 134, © 2010 WIT Press Sustainable Irrigation Management, Technologies and Policies III 145 doi:10.2495/SI100131 recharge without sacrificing water quality. This study evaluated alternatives for artificial recharge in terms of environment, safety, and economy for upstream flood control dam #37 in southern Oklahoma. An “engineered sinkhole” is proposed that will maintain flood control while allowing artificial recharge to proceed without sacrificing water quality.