Microbial community changes induced by Managed Aquifer Recharge activities: Linking hydrogeological and biological processes

Abstract

Abstract. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is a worldwide used technique to increase the availability of water resources.We study how MAR modifies microbial ecosystems, and its implications for enhancing biodegradation processes to eventually improve groundwater quality. We compare soil and groundwater samples taken from a MAR facility located in NE Spain during recharge (with the facility operating continuously for several months) and after four months of no recharge. The study demonstrates a strong correlation between soil and water microbial prints with respect to sampling location along the mapped 5 infiltration path. In particular, managed recharge practices disrupt groundwater ecosystems by modifying diversity indices and the composition of microbial communities, indicating that infiltration favors the growth of certain populations. Analysis of the genetic profiles showed the presence of nine different bacterial phyla in the facility, revealing high biological diversity at the highest taxonomic range. In fact, the microbial population patterns under recharge conditions agree with the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis. Moreover, DNA sequence analysis of excised DGGE band patterns revealed the existence of indicator 10 species linked to MAR, most notably Dehalogenimonas sp, Nitrospira sp and Vogesella sp. Our real facility multidisciplinary study (hydrological, geochemical and microbial), involving soil and groundwater samples, support that MAR is a naturallybased, passive, and efficient technique with broad implications for the biodegradation of pollutants dissolved in water.

Coupling Flow, Heat, and Reactive Transport Modeling to Reproduce In Situ Redox Potential Evolution: Application to an Infiltration Pond

“…Iron and sulfate reduction coexistence was associated to the sulfate reduction due to the re-oxidation of Fe­(II) . The activation of more reducing processes was clearly related with increasing SOM concentration during the warm periods of the year, in line with the observations in infiltration ponds elsewhere. , …”

“…Surface infiltration ponds are highly dynamic redox systems [8][9][10] . They are a type of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) facilities, aimed at increasing the availability of groundwater resources by storing water in the subsurface and increasing the residence time to enhance opportunities for kinetically controlled water purification processes 11,12 .…”

“…They are a type of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) facilities, aimed at increasing the availability of groundwater resources by storing water in the subsurface and increasing the residence time to enhance opportunities for kinetically controlled water purification processes 11,12 . Redox reactions are driven by the simultaneous availability of TEAPscontaining waters and electron donors, thus contributing to the degradation of nutrients (dissolved organic carbon 13,14 , nitrates 8,[15][16][17] ) and organic pollutants [18][19][20][21][22] .…”

Modeling the Organic Carbon Oxidation and Redox Sequence Under the Partial‐Equilibrium Approach: A Discussion by Means of a Semi‐Analytical Solution

“…Thus, redox geochemistry implies a set of complex and heterogeneous reactions involving gases, ionic species and iron, manganese and sulfate minerals (Christensen et al., 2000). Consequently, it plays an important role in the water quality of different environmental systems like marine (Jaffé et al., 2008; Middelburg, 1989) or lake sediments (Canavan et al., 2007; Torres et al., 2015), polluted systems such as landfill leachate pollution (Brun & Engesgaard, 2002; Brun et al., 2002; Rolle et al., 2008; van Breukelen et al., 2004) or in wetlands (Dash et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2019; Ng et al., 2017, 2020) and managed aquifer recharge applications (Barba et al., 2019; Rodríguez‐Escales et al., 2020; Valhondo et al., 2015).…”

What are the main factors influencing the presence of faecal bacteria pollution in groundwater systems in developing countries?

“…It is known that the transport, rate of survival, and fate of microbes in the subsurface environment are directly influenced by the microbial population (both diversity and individual characteristics and concentrations, e.g., Barba et al, 2019a), the microbes physical state (dead or alive), the type and characteristics of the subsurface soil and aquifer sediment, and the hydrological conditions, such as water temperature and quality (Rao et al, 1986;Perujo et al, 2017). Therefore, in order to protect drinking water supply wells against microbial contamination, it is essential to establish safe setback distances between wastewater disposal services and water wells (Blaschke et al, 2016).…”