Groundwater Quality

Abstract

This review covers studies related to groundwater quality and has been arranged by contaminant type. For each contaminant the quantity, fate and transport, remediation measures, and models published over the past year are presented. FLOWA methodology for stochastic management of groundwater flow and quality was presented by Bakr et al (2003) using coupled flow and mass transport equations. Using a multi-objective formulation of the management problem and analysis of its results, it was possible to identify an appropriate remediation scheme. A mathematical model for solute transport, using a laplace transform power series, was used to describe solute transport in a convergent flow field with scale-dependent dispersion (Chen et al, 2003a). The model results showed good agreement with field data. Woods et al (2003) showed that numerical error in groundwater transport models could lead to quantitative and qualitative changes in behavior. The authors confirmed this finding by showing 2190 the Elder problem to be extremely sensitive to the simulation method used. Nonreactive transport at the boarder of various asymmetrical cavities was modeled by Selvadurai (2003). Analytical results were developed for time-and spacedependent distribution of contaminant concentration in porous media, which can also exhibit natural attenuation.A block-effective macrodispersion model was used to simulate transport in heterogeneous aquifers (Rubin et al, 2003). The closed-form analytical results were attained very quickly. Das and Nassehi (2003) modeled contaminant mobility in the subsurface domains with multiple free/porous interfaces. The authors attempted to remove the limitations of previous mathematical models by imposing multiple pervious boundaries. The effects local-scale heterogeneity and non-linear, kinetically limited sorption phenomena on contaminant transport in porous media was discussed by Johnson et al (2003a). The results indicated that local-scale physical heterogeneity controlled the non-ideal transport behavior of trichloroethene and non-ideal sorption was of secondary importance. The flow behavior of liquid carbon tetrachloride in unsaturated heterogeneous porous media was studied by Oostrom et al (2003). The results indicate that nonspreading behavior of NAPLs should be implemented in simulators to account for the formation of residual saturations. A dependence of DNALP behavior on saturation history was demonstrated by Gerhard and Kueper (2003) using laboratory scale testing. Laboratory and numerical modeling investigations of flow and transport near a seepage face boundary was conducted by Simpson et al (2003a). The 2191 authors concluded that the use of the Dupuit approximations might introduce error into the analysis of localized solute transport near the seepage face.Anderson applied an approximation that replaced the leaky boundary with an equivalent layer that had a one-dimensional resistance to flow. The solution compared favorably with the commonly utilized Dupuit approximation.A model for unsaturated flow...