Laboratory investigation of water extraction effects on saltwater wedge displacement

There is a close connection between saltwater intrusion into aquifers and groundwater extraction. Freshwater extraction in coastal aquifers is one of the most important reasons for the saltwater intrusion into these aquifers. Condition of extraction system such as well depth, discharge rate, saltwater concentration and etc. could affect this process widely. Thus, investigating different extraction conditions comprises many management advantages.  In the present study, the effects of freshwater extraction on saltwater interface displacement have been investigated in a laboratory box. Three different well depths (H) were considered with combinations of 3 different extraction rates (Q) and 3 saltwater concentrations (C) for detailed investigation of the effects of these factors variations on saltwater displacement. SEAWAT model has been used to simulate all the scenarios to numerically study of the process. The experimental and numerical results showed that when the C and Q rates were small and the well depth was shallow, the saltwater interface wouldn’t reach the extraction well, so the extracted water remained uncontaminated. When the C and Q rates were increased and the well was deepened, the salinity of the extracted water became higher. When the Q and C rates were high enough, in the shallow well depth, the final concentration of the extracted water was low but a huge part of the porous media was contaminated by the saltwater, furthermore when the well was deepened enough, the final concentration of the extracted water was increased but a small part of the porous media was contaminated by the saltwater. Finally, the results showed that when the Q and H rates were high enough, the extraction well behaved like a barrier and didn’t allow the advancing saltwater wedge toe to be intruded beyond the wells

Moment analysis for modeling soil water distribution in furrow irrigation: Variable vs. constant ponding depths

Despite increasing use of pressurized irrigation methods, most irrigation projects world-wide still involve surface systems. Accurate estimation of the amount of infiltrating water and its spatial distribution in the soil is of great importance in the design and management of furrow irrigation systems. Moment analysis has previously been applied to describe the subsurface water distribution using input data from numerical simulations rather than field measured data, and as-suming a constant ponding depth in the furrow. A field experiment was conducted in a blocked-end level furrow at Maricopa Agricultural Center, Arizona, USA, to study the effect of time-variable ponding depths on soil water distribution and the resulting wetting bulb under real conditions in the field using moment analysis. The simulated volumetric soil water contents run with variable and constant (average) ponding depths using HYDRUS 2D/3D were almost identical, and both compared favorably with the field data. Hence, only the simulated soil water contents with variable ponding depths were used to calculate the moments. It was concluded that the fluctuating flow depth had no significant influence on the resulting time-evolving ellipses. This was related to the negligible 10-cm variation in ponding depths compared to the high negative matric potential of the unsaturated soil. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]