In coastal areas, Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) systems are increasingly relied upon to provide a sustainable freshwater supply. During the feasibility and design phases of such systems the focus typically lies on optimizing the recovery efficiency (RE) as a way of maximizing freshwater yield. However, for many practical cases the injectable volume of freshwater turns out to be a critical condition for the absolute volume of freshwater that can ultimately be recovered. This is particularly the case in low lying coastal areas and polders where high injection pressures cannot be applied due to shallow groundwater tables, particularly in areas with relatively thin overlying confining layers and seepage pressures due to the risk of integrity failure (ground ruptures). Here, several crucial aspects of well (field) design in such conditions were considered, as well as analytical and numerical approaches that can support optimization of recoverable freshwater volumes. Results show that, for individual wells, the difference in density between the injected and native groundwater results in lower injection pressures gradients at the bottom of well screens. We show that depending on the conditions this can considerably affect injection rates and can negatively impact RE. Also, for shallow ASR systems in low lying polders, the risk of integrity failure may be such that partially penetrating wells set at depth below the overlying confining layer are to be preferred. Lastly, at the well field level, the spacing between wells is an important design criterion, as from a RE perspective a minimal spacing is preferred, however, overlapping injection pressures between wells can severely limit the injection rate. Overall, the results of this study highlight that for the design of ASR systems in saline aquifers, maximizing freshwater yield requires careful balancing of possible trade offs between the RE and injection rate.