HR: 1330h
AN: H42D-1113    [PDF]
TI: Controls on the Spatial-Temporal Cl- Pattern in the Coastal Plain Aquifer of Israel
AU: * Albert, J
EM: jeff.albert@brown.edu
AF: Dept of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Box 1846 Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 United States
AU: Benoit, G
EM: gaboury.benoit@yale.edu
AF: Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 205 Prospect St, New Haven, CT 06511 United States
AU: Melloul, A
EM: abrahamm20@water.gov.il
AF: Israel Hydrological Service, 234 Jaffa Rd, Jerusalem, Israel
AB: The Coastal Plain Aquifer of Israel, a Pleistocene granular formation consisting largely of sands, sandstone, and calcareous sandstones, is an important regional source of high quality drinking water. The land surface overlying the aquifer has witnessed massive increases in human population and changes in land use and land cover over the past half-century. There is widespread concern in the region about pollutant threats to the aquifer, primary among them dissolved solids originating from 1) repeated irrigation cycles using both conventional freshwater and reclaimed municipal sewage, 2) seawater intrusion, and 3) naturally occurring salt deposits in neighboring geologic strata. The median Cl- concentration of the aquifer has increased at a rate of approximately 1.1 mg/L/annum since 1949, albeit with considerable spatial heterogeneity. This research seeks to explain the spatio-temporal salinity distribution using a variety of explanatory variables derived from agricultural, lithological, hydrological, and land use/land cover datasets. Preliminary estimates indicate that direct salinity inputs from conventional and wastewater irrigation are not the major driver of the salinity change.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1842 Irrigation
DE: 1884 Water supply
DE: 1894 Instruments and techniques
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting