HR: 0830h
AN: H21E-0891    [PDF]
TI: Sensitivity of Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers to a Hydraulic Barrier
AU: * Tiruneh, N D
EM: nebiyu@grove.ufl.edu
AF: Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, 365 Weil Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: Motz, L H
EM: lmotz@ce.ufl.edu
AF: Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, 365 Weil Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AB: One of the challenging issues of water resources management is the vulnerability of coastal aquifers to seawater intrusion. Mitigating the impacts of seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers is a formidable task that often requires minimizing extraction of freshwater and finding viable means to protect the freshwater aquifer either by reclaiming the already saline aquifer and/or limiting the advance of the interface farther inland. One of the methods that can be employed to mitigate the impacts of seawater intrusion involves creating a hydraulic barrier where injected freshwater alters the flow of intruding seawater by creating a localized zone of higher pressure in the aquifer. A hydraulic block can be created to contain the advance of seawater by a number of techniques that include injecting freshwater into the seawater intruded area and increasing the surface recharge through recharge ponds and canals. This research reports the results of a numerical modeling experiment where a hydraulic block is created by injecting freshwater into an already saline aquifer using injection wells. The comparison of concentration values at selected monitoring wells indicates that there is a significant improvement in the ambient water quality as a result of the injection of freshwater. The improvement in concentration is also noticed to vary from layer to layer. Information obtained from such numerical modeling experiments could be used to determine the locations of injection wells for efficient performance of the mitigation system.
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1832 Groundwater transport
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting