Management of Aquifers - Hydrogeology: Objectives, Methods, Applications - page 222

4.1 Underground dams
Dams inside karst systems have been known for a long time in China (Luota
syncline), for potable water storage or for electricity production.
A Guilin Karst Institute (China) and Western Kentucky University
(USA) project is supposedly under way in Hunan (China) to raise level
of the karst aquifer by 200 m thanks to an underground dam, in order to
supply drinking water to the villages in the spring's watershed.
A prototype built in Coaraze on a small karst spring (Figure 115) led
to the observation that the 8 m rise in the water table enabled, on the one
hand, the fi lling of karst drains, and on the other hand, the recharge of the
fracture network in the rock mass (Gilli & Mangan, 1994).
Figure 115 Emptying of the Coaraze (Alpes Maritimes) prototype.