Modelling of transport processes during bank filtration and artificial groundwater recharge

Presenting person: Prof. Dr. Gunnar Nützmann, Abteilung Ökohydrologie, Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei, Berlin
Th. 2006-05-18 (16:15), H6

Managed aquifer recharge is becoming increasingly popular to secure and enhance water resources through a variety of techniques such as riverbank filtration, aquifer storage and recovery or ponded infiltration. In the NASRI-project several investigations were carried out in order to understand the key factors controlling the water quality changes that occurred during bank filtration and artificial groundwater recharge in Berlin, Germany.
Different numerical modeling approaches have successfully been applied for physically complex situations and redox-dependent geochemical reactions at the Lake Tegel and Lake Wannsee test sites. Substantial progress was also reached in simulating transport, sorption and degradation processes (e. g. microcystin and bacteriophages) during column and enclosure experiments at different scales. The modeling study of the Lake Tegel recharge site showed that at larger scale the redox processes are predominantly controlled by seasonal temperature changes rather than transient groundwater flow due to varying recharge rates. The influence of transient unsaturated/saturated conditions appeared not to be important for the behaviour of the hydrogeochemical system on that scale.
Overall this paper shows that a sound understanding and analysis of the key processes affecting the water quality changes during bank filtration and artificial recharge of groundwater could only be achieved when flow, transport and reactive processes are considered simultaneously, both in the field and during modelling.


Export as iCal: