Validation of the groundwater recharge model used by FIFCO applying other reference methodologies.
Validation of the groundwater recharge model used by FIFCO applying other reference methodologies.
The project applies the Groundwater Recharge (RAS) method, developed by FORGAES and the European Union, to validate the water recharge model used by FIFCO on its farms under an agreement with FONAFIFO. This method is implemented in QGIS using 10×10 meter raster data, integrating biophysical variables such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, land use, soil texture, and terrain slope to generate groundwater recharge maps with good spatial precision.
The results obtained show an average groundwater recharge of 12,831.68 m³/ha, with a total of 5,743,361.66 m³/year across the 455.79 effective recharge hectares distributed among 10 farms. The areas with the highest recharge correspond to farms located in the Caribbean sector of the Central Volcanic Cordillera, where high precipitation, medium to high slopes, and good forest cover with uncompacted soils coincide.
The study concludes that the FIFCO-FONAFIFO agreement is a strategic tool to offset FIFCO's water footprint, and recommends reviewing and adapting the RAS methodology to Costa Rica's conditions, establishing a rigorous monitoring system until 2021 to update the formula, and initiating runoff and soil loss model calculations to account for other ecosystem services in FIFCO's areas of influence.
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