Prediction of Groundwater Flow and Transport Processes in an Urban Area: A Combined Approach of Field Testing and Numerical Modeling

Drinking water supply in urban areas is challenging due to different kinds of water use and potential groundwater contamination. We investigate an area where drinking water production is close to different contaminated sites. The study site is characterized by a high complexity of the tectonic and geological setting with a gravel and a karstic aquifer. The two aquifers are partly connected, partly disconnected by an aquitard. To avoid drinking water contamination, artificial groundwater recharge with surface water into the gravel aquifer is used to create a hydraulic barrier between the contaminated sites and the water abstraction wells. Trace compounds, that were found in former times in the surface water but not nowadays, are still detected in the extracted drinking water. Different studies have been performed such as numerical modeling, intensive groundwater monitoring and investigation of drilling cores to get a differentiated overview of the distribution of the contaminants. Back-diffusion from the matrix due to changing hydraulic boundary was stated to be the reason for the actual distribution of the contaminants. In a first approach due to the lack of experimental data or evidence from field measurements, the permeabilities of the karstic aquifer were assumed as homogeneous. In our study, we seek to identify the flow and transport processes within the system including the fracture network in a combined approach of field work and 3D modeling with FEFLOW. During a field campaign we acquired water samples for the analysis of stable water isotopes as well as organic and inorganic compounds. Furthermore, tritium and helium samples were taken to estimate water ages and to determine the flow through the fracture networks. A combination of existing and recently obtained data was used to build and validate a 3D flow and transport model. The simulation of different scenarios such as the water flow for varying injection and extraction rates as well as particle transport from different sources is carried out. To investigate the effect of subsurface heterogeneity, PEST, an independent parameter estimation and uncertainty analysis software, was used. With the calibrated model we will be able to optimize the operational conditions of artificial recharge and drinking water production especially at the boundaries of the production field. Hence, we can provide guidelines for an improved water resource management

Continuous Interscalene Brachial Plexus Blocks: An Anatomical Challenge between Scylla and Charybdis?

Brachial plexus blocks at the interscalene level are frequently chosen by physicians and recommended by textbooks for providing regional anesthesia and analgesia to patients scheduled for shoulder surgery. Published data concerning interscalene single-injection or continuous brachial plexus blocks report good analgesic effects. The principle of interscalene catheters is to extend analgesia beyond the duration of the local anesthetic’s effect through continuous infusion, as opposed to a single injection. However, in addition to the recognized beneficial effects of interscalene blocks, whether administered as a single injection or through a catheter, there have been reports of consequences ranging from minor side effects to severe, life-threatening complications. Both can be simply explained by direct mispuncture, as well as undesired local anesthetic spread or misplaced catheters. In particular, catheters pose a high risk when advanced or placed uncontrollably, a fact confirmed by reports of fatal outcomes. Secondary catheter dislocations explain side effects or loss of effectiveness that may occur hours or days after the initial correct function has been observed. From an anatomical and physiological perspective, this appears logical: the catheter tip must be placed near the plexus in an anatomically tight and confined space. Thus, the catheter’s position may be altered with the movement of the neck or shoulder, e.g., during physiotherapy. The safe use of interscalene catheters is therefore a balance between high analgesia quality and the control of side effects and complications, much like the passage between Scylla and Charybdis. We are convinced that the anatomical basis crucial for the brachial plexus block procedure at the interscalene level is not sufficiently depicted in the common regional anesthesia literature or textbooks. We would like to provide a comprehensive anatomical survey of the lateral neck, with special attention paid to the safe placement of interscalene catheters

Improved water resource management for a highly complex environment using three-dimensional groundwater modelling

Proper allocation and management of groundwater is an important and critical challenge under rising water demands of various environmental sectors but good groundwater quality is often limited because of urbanization and contamination of aquifers. Given the predictive capability of groundwater models, they are often the only viable means of providing input to water management decisions. However, modelling flow and transport processes can be difficult due to their unknown subsurface heterogeneity and typically unknown distribution of contaminants. As a result water resource management tasks are based on uncertain assumption on contaminants patterns and this uncertainty is typically not incorporated into the assessment of risks associated with different proposed management scenarios. A three-dimensional groundwater model was used to improve water resource management for a study area, where drinking water production is close to different former landfills and industrial areas. To avoid drinking water contamination, artificial groundwater recharge with surface water into the gravel aquifer is used to create a hydraulic barrier between contaminated sites and drinking water extraction wells. The model was used for simulating existing and proposed water management strategies as a tool to ensure the utmost security for drinking water. A systematic evaluation of the flow direction and magnitude between existing observation points using a newly developed three point estimation method for a large amount of scenarios was carried out. Due to the numerous observation points 32 triangles (three-points) were created which cover the entire area around the Hardwald. We demonstrated that systematically applying our developed methodology helps to identify important locations which are sensitive to changing boundary conditions and where additional protection is required without highly computational demanding transport modelling. The presented integrated approach using the flow direction between observation points can be easily transferred to a variety of hydrological settings to evaluate systematically groundwater modelling scenarios

Verteilung anthropogen eingetragener Stoffe im Grundwasser: Ein Fallbeispiel aus der Nordschweiz

Im Wassergewinnungsgebiet Hardwald werden rund 15 Mio. m3/a Trinkwasser produziert. Es finden sich jedoch Spuren von chlorierten organischen Verbindungen im Grundwasser. Als Fallstudie werden hier die Ergebnisse von Feld- und Laborarbeiten zur Bestimmung der räumlichen Verteilung der chlorierten organischen Verbindungen, der stabilen Wasserisotope (δ18O und δ2D), der Hauptkationen- und -anionen und ausgewählter Spurenstoffe, welche über ein Rheininfiltrat eingetragen werden, vorgestellt. Als Ergebnis der Untersuchungen zeigte sich, dass die künstliche Rheinwasserinfiltration ganz entscheidend zur Trinkwassersicherheit beiträgt und das entnommene Grundwasser vorwiegend der chemischen Signatur des infiltrierten Rheinwassers entspricht. Jedoch zeigt sich auch, dass durch die über die Fläche ungleichmäßig verteilte Infiltration vor allem eine Beimischung von Muschelkalkwasser in süd-westlichen Bereichen des Untersuchungsgebiets wahrscheinlich ist. Diese Interpretation wird durch die Verteilung der chlorierten organischen Verbindungen, Hauptkationen- und -anionen, stabilen Wasserisotopen und Spurenstoffen gestützt. Trotz der hier vorhandenen komplexen Randbedingungen wird durch das Zusammenspiel von künstlicher Infiltration und Entnahme eine sichere Trinkwasserversorgung ermöglicht.ISSN:1430-483XISSN:1432-116

Comprehensive micropollutant screening using LC-HRMS/MS at three riverbank filtration sites to assess natural attenuation and potential implications for human health

Riverbank filtration (RBF) is used worldwide to produce high quality drinking water. With river water often contaminated by micropollutants (MPs) from various sources, this study addresses the occurrence and fate of such MPs at three different RBF sites with oxic alluvial sediments and short travel times to the drinking water well down to hours. A broad range of MPs with various physico-chemical properties were analysed with detection limits in the low ng L−1 range using solid phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem high resolution mass spectrometry. Out of the 526 MPs targeted, a total of 123 different MPs were detected above the limit of quantification at the three different RBF sites. Of the 75–96 MPs detected in each river, 43–59% were attenuated during RBF. The remaining total concentrations of the MPs in the raw drinking water accounted to 0.6–1.6 μgL−1 with only a few compounds exceeding 0.1 μgL−1, an often used threshold value. The attenuation was most pronounced in the first meters of infiltration with a full elimination of 17 compounds at all three sites. However, a mixing with groundwater related to regional groundwater flow complicated the characterisation of natural attenuation potentials along the transects. Additional non-target screening at one site revealed similar trends for further non-target components. Overall, a risk assessment of the target and estimated non-target compound concentrations finally indicated during the sampling period no health risk of the drinking water according to current guidelines. Our results demonstrate that monitoring of contamination sources within a catchment and the affected water quality remains important in such vulnerable systems with partially short residence times. Keywords: Groundwater, LC-HRMS/MS, Riverbank filtration, Drinking water, Organic contaminants, Risk assessmen

Spatiotemporal scales of river-groundwater interaction - The role of local interaction processes and regional groundwater regimes

Drinking water production in the vicinity of rivers not only requires the consideration of different spatiotemporal scales and settings of river-groundwater interaction processes, but also of local and regional scale groundwater regimes.Selected case studies in combination with field-experiments and the setup of high-resolution groundwater flow models enabled the investigation of the spatiotemporal development of microbial (classical fecal indicator bacteria and total cell counts) and selected organic micropollutants in riverine and regional groundwater for different hydrological settings, including low and high flow conditions. Proxy indicators suitable as surrogates for the diverse contaminations in alluvial aquifers with different settings could be identified.Based on the study results, the basic elements for both groundwater management and river restoration concepts are derived, which include the: (1) compilation and evaluation of the "current state" concerning hydrogeology, microbiology and contamination by organic micropollutants, (2) definition of field-experiments to qualitatively assess variability related to the "current state", and (3) quantitative assessment of groundwater regimes, including variability of groundwater components and inflow areas, by application of high-resolution groundwater flow models.The validity and transferability of the concept and inferred controls (specifically drivers and controls of river-groundwater interaction) are tested by evaluations derived from hydraulic relationships to river sections with comparable settings and regional groundwater flow regimes in general.The results of our investigations illustrate the influence of dynamic hydrologic boundary conditions on river-groundwater interaction and of regional scale groundwater flow regimes on the water composition of riverine groundwater systems. It is demonstrated how to identify river sections and their variations with intensified river-groundwater exchange processes and how to quantify the transient character of the different groundwater components that constitute the raw water quality of drinking water wells near rivers. (c) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved