Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), the intentional recharge of aquifers, has surged worldwide in the last 60 years as one of the options to preserve and increase water resources availability. However, estimating the extent of the area impacted by the recharge operations is not an obvious task. In this descriptive study, we monitored the spatiotemporal variation of the groundwater temperature in a phreatic aquifer before and during MAR operations, for 15 days, at the LIFE REWAT pilot infiltration basin using surface water as recharge source. The study was carried out in the winter season, taking advantage of the existing marked difference in temperature between the surface water (cold, between 8 and 13 °C, and in quasi-equilibrium with the air temperature) and the groundwater temperature, ranging between 10 and 18 °C. This difference in heat carried by groundwater was then used as a tracer. Results show that in the experiment the cold infiltrated surface water moved through the aquifer, allowing us to identify the development and extension in two dimensions of the recharge plume resulting from the MAR infiltration basin operations. Forced convection is the dominant heat transport mechanism. Further data, to be gathered at high frequency, and modeling analyses using the heat distribution at different depths are needed to identify the evolution of the recharge bulb in the three-dimensional space.
<p>While several studies deal with description and causes leading to aquifer overexploitation, relatively few face the challenge of reverting unbalanced situations. Since 60 years, intensive exploitation of groundwater of the lower Cornia valley aquifer system (Tuscany, Italy) resulted in consistent head lowering and water balance deficit, subsidence, reduction of groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems, and salinization of freshwater resources. There, groundwater is the only source of water for drinking, irrigation, industrial purposes and it also contributes to the water needs of the nearby Elba island. We present here the main results achieved within the EU funded LIFE REWAT project (sustainable WATer management in the lower Cornia valley through demand REduction, aquifer Recharge and river REstoration; http://www.liferewat.eu) aiming at rebalancing the water budget of the Cornia river hydrologic system by means of innovation and participatory processes.</p><p>Since 2018, five demonstration measures (river restoration works; Managed Aquifer Recharge; reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation; high irrigation efficiency scheme; leakage management in water distribution systems) were built and set in operation for promoting sustainable groundwater resource management, along with capacity building and participatory actions.</p><p>Results show an increase in recharge/storage of about 2.5 Mm<sup>3 </sup>per year, with noticeable effects related to the increase in natural recharge from the Cornia riverbed to the aquifer (for about 1.5 Mm<sup>3</sup>/year) due to morphological restoration works. The Managed Aquifer Recharge two-stage infiltration basin of Suvereto guaranteed an increase in recharge of about 0.5 Mm<sup>3</sup>/year. Additional storage increase is related to the reduction in leakage losses from drinking water network and thanks to a more careful use of irrigation water in farming. In about two years, thanks also to favorable hydrologic conditions, the groundwater head generally arose of about 2 to 3 m in the Cornia plain. All the technical works have been complemented by a two years long participatory process leading to the signature of The Cornia River Contract. This is a voluntary agreement among the main stakeholders to promote a shared vision on next 50 years needed actions to achieve environmental sustainability along with proper water resources management. The results achieved so far provide a clear trend towards the Cornia aquifer restoration by means of low-impact and nature-based solutions along with a large involvement of the main stakeholders in creating a shared knowledge on the value of the groundwater resource.</p><p>Acknowledgement</p><p>This contribution is presented within the framework of the LIFE REWAT project. The LIFE REWAT project received funding from the European Union's Life Programme LIFE 14 ENV/IT/001290.</p>
<p>While there have been significant advances in the understanding of drought in the surface water domain, little knowledge is available for groundwater and the interactions with surface water. In particular, few studies have been run to understand the short-term transient changes in groundwater quality since the early onset of a hydrological drought period. This contribution presents data and information on the groundwater hydrochemical and hydrodynamics changes occurring in an aquifer following the onset of an early dry season in Spring 2021 and developed in a hydrological drought period lasted until December 2021 in the alluvial plain of the Cornia River in coastal Tuscany (Italy).</p><p>The Cornia plain hosts a Holocene coastal aquifer constituted, in the investigated area, mainly by gravel in silty matrix. We monitored groundwater chemical quality and hydrodynamics in a series of multi-depth piezometers in a recharge area covering three different depths from the soil surface (i.e., 8m, 12m, and 18m) in the near of a Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) scheme (Caligaris et al. 2022). We monitored these piezometers alongside with the existing network of piezometers and the relations with Cornia River surface water for nine months from April 2021 (when the max groundwater head was recorded) until December 2021 (when the minimum was recorded).</p><p>Ten sampling campaigns were performed in this period, covering the early end of the annual MAR operation period in May 2021, and monitoring every fifteen days in the initial phase of the dry season. The last effective rainfall occurred on 11 May 2021. A total of about 130 water samples were collected. The concentrations of the main ions in the water samples were determined using an Ion Chromatography (IC) instrument. The concentrations of trace elements were determined using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP). The concentration of Boron in water was determined using a Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES). Physico-chemical parameters were measured in the field with a multiparametric probe. This resulted on the measurement of the spatiotemporal variation of 49 different parameters at each of the study point.</p><p>An important groundwater table decline, ranging from 6 to 10 m, was observed in this period, which brought to relevant water stress even in trees at the end of October 2021. The statistical behavior of the different parameters as well as their relationships are studied and presented to define a robust conceptual model unifying hydrochemistry and hydrodynamics in order to describe the evolution of the aquifer.</p><p><strong>Acknowledgement</strong></p><p>This paper is presented within the framework of the project MARSoluT (www.marsolut-itn.eu), a four-year Marie Sk&#322;odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Commission (Grant Agreement 814066).</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>Caligaris, E.; Agostini, M.; Rossetto, R. Using Heat as a Tracer to Detect the Development of the Recharge Bulb in Managed Aquifer Recharge Schemes. Hydrology 2022, 9, 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology9010014</p>
Although waste stabilization ponds (WSPs) are widely used in developing countries, monitoring data on their operational performance are scarce. Traditional methods for monitoring in-pond conditions, i.e. conducting hand held measurements from a small boat or installing fixed sensor networks, are not straightforward to realize and create an unhealthy working environment for field workers. A promising technology for the safe and efficient collection of monitoring data is a compact autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), capable of autonomous navigation along a predefined trajectory based on geographic coordinates and measurements in different places and depths. In this practical paper, the development process, technical details and functional testing results of a low-cost ASV for WSP monitoring are presented. Commonly available construction materials and electronic components were used to ensure affordability and reparability. The access to online tutorials and peer-support was crucial for assembling the open-source autopilot and data logger. The ASV demonstrated satisfactory performance for both the autonomous navigation as well as the georeferenced data logging of measurements at a real-scale WSP in Paraguay. This study demonstrates how the adoption of open-source hardware and software offers the flexibility for the wastewater professionals to develop customized DIY solutions for specific monitoring applications and working environments.
<p>The Cornia Valley aquifer system (Tuscany, Italy) is the main source for irrigation, industrial purposes, and for potable water supply for the zone and the Elba island. Sixty years of its overexploitation caused a remarkable potentiometric drawdown accompanied with a wide seawater intrusion and a severe degradation of the quality of the groundwater (Rossetto et al., 2018; 2019).</p><p>In the early 2000s, extensive research regarding anomalous high concentrations of Boron in the Cornia Valley was carried out. These studied the hydrochemistry of the area, determining also anomalous high concentrations of Arsenic (Pennisi et al., 2009). In addition, one of the biggest schemes treating Arsenic for drinking water started operating with other two plants for Boron (Comune di Suvereto, 2013). Furthermore, in 2015 the LIFE REWAT project was started in order to set a strategy to recover and improve the availability of water in the area through a series of technical and social interventions (Rossetto et al., 2018).</p><p>Within LIFE REWAT, Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) was identified as a solution to counterbalance the stressed hydrologic system. Thus, a pilot MAR scheme infiltrating harvested rainwater from the Cornia River was implemented. It is provided by a hi-tech high-frequency automated and remotely controlled system for operating the plant and monitoring water quantity and quality. This system is supported by the data gathered from different sensors installed in the area, recording into a database. Additionally, discrete groundwater sampling takes place monthly (Rossetto et al., 2018; 2019).</p><p>The database contains recordings from two consecutive hydrological years. The first year measurements and samplings were done under natural recharge conditions, while during the second year the MAR scheme was under operation. This initial data provides insights on concentration variations of Boron and Arsenic after one-year operation of the MAR scheme. However, the main processes involved still need to be understood. Therefore, long-term and short-term dedicated field experiments are designed to analyse the induced variations. This work presents a model based hydrogeochemical approach for the behaviour analysis of these elements under MAR operations to determine the transiency of these concentration changes.</p><p><strong>Acknowledgements</strong></p><p>This paper is presented within the framework of MARSoluT ITN (www.marsolut-itn.eu), a Marie Sk&#322;odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Commission (Grant Agreement 814066).</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>Comune di Suvereto (2013). Impianti per Arsenico e Boro in Val di Cornia. http://www.comune.suvereto.li.it/moduli/output_immagine.php?id=709 [Webpage. Italian. Accessed the 14/01/2020]</p><p>Pennisi, M., Bianchini, G., Kloppmann, W., & Muti, A. (2009). Chemical and isotopic (B, Sr) composition of alluvial sediments as archive of a past hydrothermal outflow. Chemical Geology, 266(3-4), 114-125.</p><p>Rossetto, R., De Filippis, G., Piacentini, S. M., Matani, E., Sabbatini, T., Fabbrizzi, A., ... & Menonna, V. (2018). Using flood water in Managed Aquifer Recharge schemes as a solution for groundwater management in the Cornia valley (Italy). Geophysical Research Abstracts (Vol. 20).</p><p>Rossetto, R., De Filippis, G., Piacentini, S. M., Neri, S., Continanza, D., Brilli, M., ... & Lazzaroni, F. (2019). Increasing reliability and safety of Managed Aquifer Recharge schemes for tackling water scarcity. Geophysical Research Abstracts (Vol. 21).</p>
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