White Paper: Fluid Flow, Chemical Transport, Groundwater Systems, Toxic Wastes

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Quantifying Fluid Flow and Chemical Transport in Groundwater Systems

Author            :Prof. Brian Berkowtiz

Designation    :Professor

Company        :Weizmann Institute of Science

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Synopsis

Over 95% of the Earth`s accessible fresh water resources are stored in the ground, trapped in the small pores and fractures within rocks. These underground stores of water constitute critically important resources for mankind, but they are alarmingly sensitive to both natural and human-generated chemical input. Worldwide, public awareness of these dangers is relatively new, with the first documented cases appearing only in the 1980s. And yet, toxic industrial and radioactive wastes are an unavoidable by-product of modern industry. Accurate prediction of how water and contaminants flow and interact in geological formations is thus critical for the effective exploitation, management, and remediation of groundwater resources, as well as for protection against accidental exposure to radioactive and toxic wastes. Rock heterogeneity leads to the development of preferential flow paths and stagnant regions; and variability in flow paths and composition of the porous rock matrix allows different chemical reactions and rates of reaction to occur at sites in close proximity to one another. These irregular distributions of flow paths and chemical constituents occur over a wide scale – from the pore level to the kilometre scale – and exist in both saturated and unsaturated regimes. Models of flow and chemical transport processes in these complex natural systems must account for the inherent heterogeneity and scaling properties of porous rocks, as well as the typically sparse and uncertain field data that can be obtained to characterize a geological formation. We discuss recent advances in modelling – integrated with laboratory and field studies – which are providing new insight into characterization of geological structure, (single and multiphase) flow and chemical transport processes within groundwater systems. In particular, such models demonstrate conditions under which groundwater contamination can occur, which appears often to be at a much faster rate than was previously thought. These conceptual and quantitative models are relevant, for example, to design of strategies for remediation of groundwater contaminated by agricultural and industrial wastes, to consideration of potential underground storage sites for toxic industrial and radioactive wastes, and to sustainable exploitation of groundwater resources.

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