The FEM model of groundwater circulation in the vicinity of the Świniarsko intake, near Nowy Sącz (Poland)

2021

Water Resour Manage

Self Cite

Potable groundwater resources are at risk as a result of industrial development and an increase in fertilizer use. Protection of the groundwater supply may require the establishment of groundwater source protection zones (GSPZs) to allow the implementation of protective measures. The aim of this study was to develop a new approach to groundwater source risk assessment (GSRA). The risk was defined as the highest of the risks identified for individual potential sources of contamination (PSCs). The risk resulting from a given PSC is the combination of its adverse impact on groundwater, unwanted event probability, and adverse effect and annoyance to the population. A multicriteria assessment method was designed to estimate indices of the potential groundwater impact of industrial facilities and noninert waste landfills with the range and weight method. Application of the proposed approach was tested considering an idealized model and three scenarios involving various industrial PSCs and fertilization practices. The overall nitrogen load was compared to the maximum effective nitrogen load for the crops in question. Sensitivity analysis of this methodology revealed that the main factors influencing the risk to the water supply include the nonreactive contaminant mass load in PSC leachate and the ratio of the groundwater volume abstracted from wells to the amount of water flowing from PSCs into wells, which determines the dilution degree of the contaminant mass. This proposed interdisciplinary approach to GSRA provides a robust basis to reach decisions on GSPZ establishment and the development of a groundwater risk analysis methodology.

Section: Table 10mentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiquantitative Risk Assessment Method for Groundwater Source Protection Using a Process-based Interdisciplinary Approach

Duda

2021

Water Resour Manage

Self Cite

“…The above considerations indicate that it is important to optimize the amount of water abstracted from the well or distribute water abstraction between individual wells in a multi-well field as well as to optimize nitrogen fertilization in order to protect well fields against high risk resulting in their closure (Salcedo-Sanchez et al 2013;Zdechlik and Kałuża 2019).…”

Section: Scenarios B and Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semi-Quantitative Risk Assessment Method for Groundwater Source Protection using a Process-Based Interdisciplinary Approach

Duda

2021

Preprint

Self Cite

Potable groundwater resources are under threat as a result of industrial development and an increase in fertilizer use. The protection of groundwater supply may require the establishment of groundwater source protection zones (GSPZ) to allow protective measures. The aim of this study has been to develop a new approach to groundwater source risk assessment (GSRA). The risk has been defined as the greatest of the risks identified for individual potential sources of contamination (PSCs). The risk resulting from a PSC is the combination of its adverse impact on groundwater, unwanted event probability, its adverse effect and annoyance for the population. A multi-criteria assessment has been designed to estimate the indices of potential groundwater impact of industrial facilities and non-inert waste landfills, using the range and weight method. The application of the approach proposed has been tested on an idealized model under three scenarios, involving various industrial PSCs and fertilization. The overall nitrogen load was compared to the maximum effective nitrogen load for the crops in question. The sensitivity analysis conducted for this methodology has revealed that the main factors affecting the risk to water supply are non-reactive contaminant mass load in PSC leachate and the ratio of groundwater volume abstracted from the wells to the amount of water flowing from PSCs to the wells, which determine the dilution degree of contaminant mass. This proposed interdisciplinary approach to GSRA should provide a robust basis for making decisions about GSPZ establishment and for the development of a groundwater risk analysis methodology.

“…An overview of the software used to model filtration processes and contaminant migration in groundwater is presented by Zdechlik (2016) and Pietrzak (2021), among others. Examples of the application of different model methods for the same research area are presented by Zdechlik & Morański (2017) and Zdechlik & Kałuża (2019). The use of FDM/FEM requires the creation of a numerical model of all or part of the aquifer structure under consideration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delineation of wellhead protection area based on the analytical elements method (AEM) – a case study with comparative research

Nikiel

2022

geol

The delineation of protection zones for groundwater intakes is a difficult task resulting from the significant variability of regional and local environmental conditions. Different methods are used, both simple (analytical or graphic), giving estimated results, and the most reliable, but also the most time-consuming ones, based on numerical groundwater flow models. An alternative method for the delineation of protection zones is the analytical elements method (AEM), which gives solutions like those obtained using FDM/FEM modelling methods with a relatively low degree of complexity. The estimated ranges of protection zones obtained with the use of four methods are presented for the selected test area (groundwater intake around Olesno). Results obtained with the use of the FDM model were taken as reference and CFR and SimpleWHPA were used as simplified methods. Comparative studies indicate that the results obtained by the CFR method differ significantly from the results of other methods, and their reliability is low. The results of the SimpleWHPA method are satisfactory, given the relative simplicity of the method. On the other hand, the results obtained with the AEM are close to the results obtained with the FDM treated as a reference. Considering that AEM is less time-consuming than FDM (which requires the most effort for proper model preparation), the use of AEM in the practice of protection zone delineation seems to be an interesting alternative.