GROUNDWATER

POLLUTION
 Containment
&
Remediation

Ground water Mass

Introduction transport
Pollution
processes

Pollution
i) Introduction
 EARTH

SURFACE WATER GROUNDWATER

UNSATURATED SATURATED
ZONE ZONE

AQUITARD AQUIFER

AQUICLUDE
CONFINED UNCONFINED

Figure 3.22: Water Sources

 Sulphate Nitrate
Hydrogen
Organisms Sulfide
H2S

Temperature Parameters Ammonia

NH4

Turbidity Dissolved
& O2
suspended
solids
Mineral Aggressive
content CO2

Figure 3.23: Comparison of surface water and groundwater parameters

Figure 3.24: Cross Section of Groundwater
Figure 3.25: Relative groundwater travel times
Figure 3.26: Surface water flow of the Alapaha River near Jennings, Florida going into a
sinkhole leading to the Florida Aquifer groundwater
Zone Descriptions
Water table The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures
and voids in rock become completely saturated
with water.
Saturated (phreatic) All available spaces are filled with water.
zone
Unsaturated zone There are still pockets of air with some water that
can be replaced by water.
Aquifer An underground layer of water-bearing permeable
rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand,
silt, or clay) from which groundwater can be
usefully extracted using a water well.
It is a body of saturated rock through which water
can easily move.
Aquifers must be both permeable and porous.

Aquiclude/ aquifue It is a completely impermeable aquitard

Incapable of transmitting significant quantities of
Zone Descriptions

Aquitard An impermeable layer along an aquifer.

It is a zone within the earth that restricts the flow of
groundwater from one aquifer to another (less
permeable beds or enough to transmit water in small
quantities) under ordinary hydraulic gradients.

Confined aquifers The water table above their upper boundary (an
aquitard or aquiclude), and are typically found below
unconfined aquifers.

Unconfined aquifers Also called water table or phreatic aquifers, because

their upper boundary is the water table or phreatic
surface.
Unconfined aquifer does not have a confining layer (an
aquitard or aquiclude).
Unconfined aquifers usually receive recharge water
directly from the surface, from precipitation or from a
body of surface water (e.g., a river, stream, or lake)
Forces involve in the movement of pollutant in
groundwater
• Advection
Refers to the movement caused by the flow of
groundwater
Advection causes translation of the solute field by
moving the solute with the flow velocity
• Dispersion
Dispersion causes ‘spreading’ of the solute plume
Spreading within and traverse to the main flow
direction causes a gradual dilution
• Diffusion
Describes the spread of particles through random
motion from regions of higher concentration to regions of
lower concentration.

Transport processes of contaminants in groundwater

• Retardation
When solutes flow through a porous medium they can
interact with the solid phase. In particular they can sorb
and desorb. The net result is a process called
retardation that effective slows the transport of a solute
through a porous medium
None aqueaous phase liquids (NAPL)
Organic liquids that have densities > water are referred
to as DNAPL (dense nonaqueous phase liquids).
Nonaqueous phase liquids that have densities < water
are called LNAPLs (light nonaquesous phase liquids).
Contamination by LNAPL : spills of fuels like gasoline or
ii) Groundwater
Pollution
Groundwater pollution (or groundwater
contamination) is an undesirable change in
groundwater quality resulting from human
activities.
Figure 3.27: Contaminant migration process in groundwater
 Long time for
flushing out

Contaminant
Material Detection Long time for
heterogeneity detection
Problems

Quality of water
supply affected
 Landfills

Agricultural
activities: Salt water
-fertilizers
Sources intrusion
- pesticides

Septic Tanks
Figure 3.28: Groundwater pollution by agricultural activity (fertilizer)
Figure 3.29: Groundwater pollution by septic tanks
• .

Figure 3.30: Groundwater pollution by salt water intrusion

Figure 3.31: Groundwater pollution by landfill
 Cancer

Diseases
Contaminated Wildlife
groundwater affected

Poison/ toxic
iii) Mass Transport
Processes
 Distribution: Organics -
LNPALS
• Examples : Benzene, Tolene, Ethylbenze and
xylene, spill of fuel - gasoline
• Also called floaters - float on water table –
density less than water
Distribution: Organics -
DNPALS
• Examples : Trichloroethylene
• Tetrachloroethylene
• Also called sinkers , density more than water
•
 Attenuation of pollution

• Attenuation (in some contexts also called

extinction) is the gradual loss in intensity of any
kind of flux through a medium.
• 5 Methods
• 1) Filtration
• 2)Sorption
• 3)Chemical Process
• 4) Microbiological decomposition
• 5) Dilution
Mass transport process - the extent of plume
spreading and the geometry of the distribution
of concentration.

Non reactive
solute: Reactive solute:
no transformation- transformation -
no loss mass to loss mass, e.g.
chemical/physical/
Fate Process nutrient, volatile
biological chemical,
reactions, e.g. bacteria
chloride
 Analytical Solution

• The magnitude and direction of transport are

governed by:
 The 3D hydraulic conductivity, k
 The water table and its gradient
 The existence of sources (underground stream)
or sinks (limestone caverns)
 The shape of flow domain
 Cont’

• The most simple model of decay of a contaminant

plume is:
Ct = C0e-kt 3.12

Where
Ct = concentration at time, t (mg/L)
C0 = concentration at time zero (mg/L)
t = time (d)
k = first order decay coefficient (usually
determine from site investigation)
 i) Hydrodynamic Dispersion

DL = aLvx + D* 3.13
Where
DL = Hydrodynamic Dispersion
aL = Dynamic dispersitivity
D* = Effective diffusion coefficient
vx = Average linear velocity, vx= kxi
ne
i = hydraulic gradient
kx = hydraulic conductivity
ne = porosity
 Cont’

• Scale effect on dynamic dispersitivity, aL

 Neuman (1990)
flow path < 3500m (aL = 0.0175 L1.46)

 Xu and Eckstein (1995)

any flow path > 3500m (aL = 0.83 log L2.414)

*L = length, m
 ii) Dispersion Advection
• The 1D dispersion advection equation for a contaminant
plume is:

Ct = 1 [erfc (x – vxt) + exp (vxx) erfc (x + vxt)]

C0 2 √4DLt DL √4DLt

Ct = 1 erfc (x – vxt) 3.14

C0 2 √4DLt
Where
Ct = concentration at time, t (mg/L)
C0 = concentration at time zero (mg/L)
t = time (s)
x = distance, m
vx = velocity, m/s
DL = hydrodynamic dispersion, m/s
 Example 1
A landfill is leaking leachate with a chloride concentration of
600 mg/L which enters an aquifer with the following
properties:

Hydraulic conductivity, kx =2.5x10-5 m/s

Hydraulic gradient, i =0.001
Effective diffusion coefficient, D* =0.75X10-9m2/s
Effective porosity, ne =0.25

Compute the concentration of chloride in 1 yr, 2 yr and 4 yr at

a distance of 25 m from the point where the leachate entered
the groundwater
 Solution 1
i) DL = aLvx + D* iii) Ct = 1 erfc (x – vxt)
C0 2 √4DLt x in table

Where Where
DL = Hydrodynamic Dispersion Ct = concentration at time, t (mg/L)
aL = Dynamic dispersitivity C0 = concentration at time zero (mg/L)
t = time (s)
D* = Effective diffusion coefficient x = distance, m
vx = Average linear velocity, vx = kxi v = velocity, m/s
ne D = hydrodynamic dispersion, m/s
kx = hydraulic conductivity, m/s
i = hydraulic gradient
ne = porosity
ii) Scale effect on dynamic dispersitivity, aL

 Neuman (1990)
flow path < 3500m (aL = 0.0175 L1.46)

 Xu and Eckstein (1995)

any flow path > 3500m (aL = 0.83 log
L2.414)
L = x= length, m
 Capture Zone
Parameters Equations
Maximum width, w (m) w =Q
2Ti
Where;
w = max. width, m
Q = flow rate, m3/d
T = transmitivity, m2/d
i = hydraulic gradient
Transmitivity, T (m2/d) T = kb
Where;
T = transmitivity, m2/d
k = hydraulic conductivity, m/d
b = saturated thickness, m

Stagnation point distance, xsp (m) xsp = Q

2πkbi
Where;
Q = flow rate, m3/d
k = hydraulic conductivity, m/d
b = saturated thickness, m
i = hydraulic gradient
 Example 2
Determine the maximum width of the capture zone for a
well that is pumping 2200 m3/d from the confined aquifer
with a hydraulic conductivity of 1200 m/d. An initial
hydraulic gradient is 0.0008 and saturated thickness of
35m. What is the distance from the well to the stagnation
point?
i) T = kb

ii) w = Q
2Ti

iii) xsp = Q
2πkbi
Containment &
Remediation
 Treatments

Physical Biological

Chemical

Figure 3.32: Classifications of groundwater treatments

 Institutional
control

Placing General In situ

Also known Methods treating
as isolation
mtd –isolate
the
contaminant Removing
source

Figure 3.33: General methods to treat contaminated groundwater

 Containment remediation

• 4 main alternatives
• a) Containing the contaminants in place
(container)
• b)Removing the contaminants from ground
altogether
• c)Treating the contaminants in situ
• d) Attenuation the possible hazard by
institutional control – law
 Table 3.1: Methods in placement of contaminant
Types Descriptions

Physical barrier Slurry wall sheet pile

Geo-membrane/ geo-textile - to ovoid
infiltration of contaminants into groundwater
Surface sealing – to avoid infiltration of
water into contaminants

Hydrodynamic Lower groundwater table to prevent

barrier discharge to rivers or lakes.
Combination of pumping/injection wells
 Table 3.2: Removing contaminants from the ground
altogether
Types Descriptions

Soil venting Volatile organic compounds

Normally in soil/unsaturated zone
Required Soil and gas treatment before
release to atmosphere

Excavation Digging and trucking

High Cost and need dumping place

Pumping Pump and Treat

 Table 3.3: Treating the contaminants in situ
Types Descriptions

Biological degradation For organic contaminants:

Adding nutrient like nitrogen and phosphorus and
electron acceptors (oxygen) to enhance the growth of
existing populations of aerobic bacteria

Chemical degradation Injecting an appropriate chemical or treatment agent

through well designed injection well points
Target specific contaminants, e.g.:
Injected alkali or sulfides cause heavy metals to
precipitate as insoluble minerals
Addition of oxygen can destroy cyanide
iv) Attenuating the possible hazard by
institutional controls

• Institutional actions:
 Shut down contaminant sources
 Alternative water supply
 Monitoring