Pollutant Transport and Its Alleviation in Groundwater Aquifers

Models of pollutant transport in natural aquifers

“…In each layer we assume that the diagonal entries of the dispersion tensor D xi , D y i and D zi can be treated as constant, and that the vertical variation of concentration is modest and thus approximated by the mean concentration c i (x, y, t). Equation ( 12) becomes [16,6]…”

“…If we assume that pollutant is adsorbed onto the porous matrix itself and that this does not become saturated then we could treat γ i as a constant. A special case of pollution removal is when the pollutant is removed by another substance that is also transported by the groundwater flow [6,5]. This remediation agent, which might be a strong oxidiser, can be injected downstream from a pollution event.…”

“…In equation ( 13), the removal term has the form −φ i h i k C a i c i , i.e. γ i = k C a i , where k C is the rate of degradation of pollutant due to the interaction with the remediation agent [6]. The remediation agent itself is governed similarly by equation ( 13), but with a i , f Ai and k A replacing c i , f Ci and k C .…”

“…An instantaneous release of 1 kg m −1 pollutant per unit width occurs in the third model sub-layer from the top of the aquifer at x = 10 m. The pollutant is advected, meanwhile dispersing horizontally and vertically. Pollutant entering the more permeable middle stratum is advected at a higher speed [6]. Some of this pollutant later disperses back into the upper stratum.…”

“…The subject remains topical, with continuing concern about the management of these resources. Our models for pollutant transport are founded on the assumption that the natural layers present in aquifers are relatively homogeneous [15,16,2,3,4,5,6,1]. Here, we assemble formulae with which to model a variety of circumstances.…”