WRI: Natural Infrastructure for Aquifer Recharge Financial Calculator

Currently in the prototype phase, this calculator is an excel-based tool with a flexible financial model that estimates the private costs and benefits, including the return on investment, of natural infrastructure interventions designed to enhance aquifer recharge. This tool was designed to highlight the role that natural infrastructure can play in water security. The calculator can demonstrate the benefits that natural infrastructure can have for aquifer recharge, which is a key element of water security. The calculator translates aquifer recharge impacts into easy-to-understand financial terms to evaluate its related ROI. It also improves natural infrastructure program design. It provides an analytical framework to determine the ideal type and scale of intervention and to estimate the necessary amount of funding to implement different natural infrastructure strategies. Finally, it can identify key data gaps and sources of uncertainty (e.g., data, scientific and behavioral uncertainty) that would have an impact over the business case, and which should be addressed in the program’s design process.