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Abstract. This paper presents the analysis of caffeine and carbamazepine transport in the subsurface as a result of wastewater release in the Sorek creek over the outcrops of the carbonate, Yarkon-Taninim, aquifer in Israel. Both caffeine and carbamazepine were used as indicators of sewage contamination in the subsurface. While carbamazepine is considered conservative, caffeine is subject to sorption and degradation. The objective of the study was to quantify differences in their transport under similar conditions in the karst aquifer. Water flow and pollutant transport in a “vadose zone–aquifer” system were simulated by a quasi-3-D dual permeability numerical model. The results of this study show that each of these two pollutants can be considered effective tracers for characterization and assessment of aquifer contamination. Carbamazepine was found to be more suitable for assessing the contamination boundaries, while caffeine can be used as a contaminant tracer only briefly after contamination occurs. In instances where there are low concentrations of carbamazepine which appear as background contamination in an aquifer, caffeine might serve as a better marker for detecting new contamination events, given its temporal nature. The estimated caffeine degradation rate and the distribution coefficient of a linear sorption isotherm were 0.091 d−1 and 0.1 L kg−1, respectively, which imply a high attenuation capacity. The results of the simulation indicate that by the end of the year most of the carbamazepine mass (approximately 95 %) remained in the matrix of the vadose zone, while all of the caffeine was completely degraded a few months after the sewage was discharged.

Sustainable groundwater production from karst aquifers is primarily dictated by its recharge rate. Therefore, it is essential to accurately quantify annual groundwater recharge in order to limit overexploitation and to evaluate artificial methods for groundwater enrichment. Infiltration during erratic flood events in karst basins may substantially contribute to aquifer recharge. However, the complicated nature of karst systems, which are characterized in part by multiple springs, sinkholes, and losing/gaining streams, impede accurate quantification of the actual contribution of flood waters to groundwater recharge. In this study, we aim to quantify the proportion of groundwater recharge accrued during runoff events in a karst aquifer. The role of karst conduits on flash flood infiltration was examined during four flood and controlled runoff events in the Soreq creek near Jerusalem, Israel. We distinguished between direct infiltration, percolation through karst conduits, and diffuse infiltration-the latter of which is most affected by evapotranspiration. A water balance was calculated for the 2014/15 hydrological year using the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS). Simulations show that 6.8 to 19.2% of the annual recharge volume was added to the aquifer from infiltration of runoff losses along the creek through the karst system.

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