Comparison of the Performances of Barrier Extraction and Freshwater Recharge Wells to Control Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers
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Authors
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D K ROY
Discipline of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, QLD - 4811, Australia
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B DATTA
Discipline of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, QLD - 4811, Australia
Keywords:
Barrier extraction wells, Coastal aquifer, Performance comparison, Recharge wells, Saltwater intrusionAbstract
Climate change induced sea-level rise in combination with excessive groundwater pumping has the significant potential to increase saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers. Saltwater intrusion is a major challenge because meeting the growing demand for freshwater supplies to the coastal community requires a considerable amount of groundwater abstraction from the vulnerable coastal aquifers. To meet this ever-increasing demand of water for beneficial purposes, judicial and sustainable utilization of available fresh groundwater supplies need to be adopted without deteriorating existing water resources in the aquifer. Sustainable water abstraction from coastal aquifers can be ensured by controlling saltwater intrusion through reversal of the hydraulic gradient along the coast by using a set of barrier extraction wells (BWs) or by creating a freshwater lens near the shoreline by utilizing a set of freshwater recharge wells (RWs). In this study, the comparative efficiencies of a set of BWs and freshwater RWs as well as the combined use of BWs and RWs are presented as a measure of salinity control in coastal aquifers. The simulation of density-reliant coupled flow and solute transport processes was performed for an illustrative 3-D multilayered coastal aquifer system using FEMWATER. Salinity concentrations were measured at specified monitoring locations (MLs) at the end of the simulation period of three years. Results revealed that salinity concentrations at the MLs can be reduced by allowing water extraction from a set of BWs in combination with the water abstraction from the production wells (PWs). In contrast, injecting water through a set of RWs did not help reducing salinity concentrations at specified MLs, rather the salinity concentrations increased from a combined operation of PWs + RWs when compared to PW pumping alone. Therefore, the results from this study demonstrated the superiority of BWs over RWs in a shorter simulation time for controlling saltwater intrusion of the illustrative coastal aquifer system.
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References
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