A new aquifer assessment tool using reactive tracers
Abstract
A major obstacle to making informed decisions about trigger levels for restoration and choosing remediation options is that current Site Investigation (SI) practice fails to make optimal use of available SI techniques resulting in poor value for money in conceptual site models. Often it is simply too expensive to obtain the type of site data required to build the case for natural attenuation, even though this restoration option may be relatively cheaper than a pump-and-treat system. In particular, aquifer property measurement techniques for groundwater transport and reactions are too costly and this results in over-reliance on literature values or model assumptions. This results in overly uncertain predictions of in situ performance and therefore unnecessarily cautious risk assessment and costly remediation strategies. Therefore, cost-effective SI tools that have the capability of producing high quality characterisation data are required. The dipole flow test which circulates groundwater between isolated injection (source) and extraction (sink) chambers within a single borehole has been used successfully by others to delineate heterogeneous hydraulic properties in both highly permeable and fractured rock aquifers. We propose to extend this approach by adding a suite of reactive tracers into a dipole flow field to assess the geochemical properties and biodegradation potential of aquifers. If successful this will provide a method to ascertain site-specific parameters for use in appropriate reactive transport models. The initial phase of this project involves the construction of a laboratory-scale physical model of a dipole probe to investigate the utility of the dipole flow and reactive tracer test (DFRTT) as an aquifer assessment tool. This phase will also serve as the developmental stage between mathematical theory and a host of planned field trials. The development of the laboratory-scale DFRTT including initial scoping calculations, numerical simulation results, chemical and physical properties of the porous medium, and the potential uses and properties of inert and reactive tracers for aquifer assessment will be discussed.
- Publication:
-
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly
- Pub Date:
- April 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003EAEJA....11213M