Evaluating drywells for stormwater management and enhanced aquifer recharge

Drywells are increasingly used for stormwater management and enhanced aquifer recharge, but only limited research has quantitatively determined the performance of drywells. Numerical and field scale experiments were, therefore, conducted to improve our understanding and ability to characterize the drywell behavior. In particular, HYDRUS (2D/3D) was modified to simulate transient head boundary conditions for the complex geometry of the Maxwell Type IV drywell; i.e., a sediment chamber, an overflow pipe, and the variable geometry and storage of the drywell system with depth. Falling-head infiltration experiments were conducted on drywells located at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California (CA) and a commercial complex in Torrance, CA to determine in situ soil hydraulic properties (the saturated hydraulic conductivity, K_s , and the retention curve shape parameter, α) for an equivalent uniform soil profile by inverse parameter optimization. A good agreement between the observed and simulated water heights in wells was obtained for both sites as indicated by the coefficient of determination 0.95-0.99-%, unique parameter fits, and small standard errors. Fort Irwin and Torrance drywells had very distinctive soil hydraulic characteristics. The fitted value of K_s =1.01 × 10^-3 m min^-1 at the Torrance drywell was consistent with the sandy soil texture at this site and the default value for sand in the HYDRUS soil catalog. The drywell with this K_s = 1.01 × 10^-3 m min^-1 could easily infiltrate predicted surface runoff from a design rain event (∼51.3 m³) within 5760 min (4 d). In contrast, the fitted value of K_s=2.25 × 10^-6 m min^-1 at Fort Irwin was very low compared to the Torrance drywell and more than an order of magnitude smaller than the default value reported in the HYDRUS soil catalog for sandy clay loam at this site, likely due to clogging. These experiments and simulations provide useful information to characterize effective soil hydraulic properties in situ, and to improve the design of drywells for enhanced recharge.