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A study has been performed that investigates the variation of iron content in groundwater. The study was initiated by Midvatten AB, which noticed that the iron content in groundwater samples can vary greatly over small distances. The purpose of this study was to geochemically and geohydrologically determine the factors that influence the content of iron and manganese in groundwater from a selection of eskers in Dalarna, and determine how to best sample groundwater with the method used by Midvatten AB. An evaluation was made of how the vertical variation in soil material, water composition, pumping time and pipe material affects the content of iron in groundwater. Piper diagrams were used to study the relationship between the chemical composition of the groundwater and the content of iron and manganese in groundwater samples from the studied areas. The groundwater from the studied areas was then classified in the Piper diagrams, according to the content of the major ions. Correlations were then studied between the classification and depth below groundwater table, depth below ground surface, pH, iron- and manganese content. Field samples were collected from Lennheden in order to investigate the effect of vertical variations of soil material, pumping time and pipe material on the content of iron and manganese. This was also performed to evaluate the best way of sampling groundwater. The groundwater was sampled from a steel pipe and a plastic pipe. Redox potential, pH, dissolved oxygen, iron content, temperature in groundwater, turbidity and conductivity were measured for different depths and pumping times in field. Also a groundwater sample from every sampling depth was sent to a laboratory for analysis. Diagrams and correlation tables were used to analyze these results. No correlation between iron and the major ions in groundwater was found in the Piper diagrams, but the content of manganese in groundwater had a tendency to increase with increasing alkalinity. The results from sampling groundwater showed that the average content of iron in groundwater was 0,11 mg/l from the steel pipe and 0,01 mg/l from the plastic pipe. Turbidity has the greatest effect on the analyzed content of iron in groundwater, thus the turbidity needs to be zero while sampling. A suggestion is that while investigating groundwater quality in large areas, iron pipes can be used. When the best place is located, plastic pipes can be used when the iron content needs to be investigated in detail. / Då företaget Midvatten AB har märkt att järnhalten vid provtagning av grundvattnet kan variera stort på små områden har en studie av järnhaltens variation i grundvattnet utförts. Syftet var att geokemiskt och geohydrologiskt bestämma de faktorer som påverkar järn- och manganhalten i grundvattnet i ett urval isälvsavlagringar i Dalarna, samt att bestämma hur man bäst ska provta grundvatten med Midvattens AB:s provtagningsmetodik. Studien skulle då utvärdera hur de vertikala variationerna i jordmaterial, vattensammansättning, pumptid och hur rörmaterialet påverkar järn- och manganhalten i uppumpat grundvatten. För att studera sambandet mellan den kemiska sammansättningen i grundvattnet och järn- och manganhalten analyserades flera tidigare insamlade data på grundvattenprov från de studerade lokalerna i Piperdiagram. I Piperdiagrammet klassificerades grundvattenproverna till en hydrokemisk typ med hjälp av sammansättningen av de vanligaste jonerna. Samband söktes mellan klassningen av grundvattenproverna och det uttagna provets djup under grundvattenytan, det uttagna provets djup under markytan, pH, järn- och manganhalt i brunnen. Vid undersökning av hur de vertikala variationerna i grundvattnet, pumptiden och rörmaterialet påverkade järnhalten i grundvattnet togs flera grundvattenprover i fält i Lennheden. Detta gjordes även för att utvärdera bästa tillvägagångssätt vid provtagning av grundvattnet. Grundvattnet pumpades upp i vardera ett stålrör och ett plaströr. Redoxpotential, pH, syrgashalt, järnhalt, temperatur i vattnet, turbiditet och konduktivitet mättes vid olika djup och pumptider. Prov för varje provtagningspunkt skickades in till laboratorium för analys. Resultaten av dessa analyser undersöktes därefter i diagram och korrelationstabeller. I Piperdiagrammen märktes inget samband mellan järn och grundvattnets vanligaste joner, men manganhalten tenderade att öka med ökad alkalinitet. När grundvattnet provtogs i fält var medelhalten på järn 0,11 mg/l från ett stålrör och 0,01 mg/l från ett plaströr. Det tyder på att stålröret bidrog till en högre järnhalt i grundvattnet. Den parameter (förutom stålröret) som visade störst påverkan på analysresultatet av järn i laboratorium var turbiditeten. Således behöver turbiditeten i fält vara noll vid provtagning av järn till laboratorium. Förslagsvis kan stålrör användas vid övergripande undersökning av grundvattenkvalité. Plaströr kan sedan användas vid detaljerad undersökning av järnhalten i grundvattnet när bästa plats valts.

The prediction of moisture and contaminant transport through unsaturated soil to ground water is becoming increasingly important in the fields of hydrology, agriculture and environmental engineering. Computer aided simulation techniques enables one to conduct a series of systematic numerical experiments to analyze flow phenomenon in subsurface hydrology under various physical and chemical processes. The flow movement depends upon medium characteristics, initial and boundary conditions, which reflect, physical processes occurring below the ground. To understand the effects of physical process an efficient and accurate model is needed. Thus the model developed must be able to handle varied initial and boundary conditions. In this regard, infiltration into a very dry soil becomes a very important problem of study. Most of the earlier numerical models developed are concentrated on the development of an efficient algorithm or the modelling of a particular process which govern the flow in unsaturated or saturated-unsaturated homogeneous medium. Not much work has been done on the analysis of variably saturated flow in layered soil medium. Models to simulate unsaturated flow through dry soils, especially through layered soils with varied boundary conditions are very limited. Further, not much studies have been reported in the literature on the prediction of seepage face development and the phreatic surface movement in variably saturated media with layering. These aspects are very important in determining the flow field and the discharge from the domain. A detailed literature review covering above aspects has been made and is reported in this thesis. In the present work, two dimensional numerical models to predict the movement of wetting front in unsaturated domain and the movement of the phreatic surface in homogeneous and layered porous media under various initial and boundary conditions are developed based on finite difference and finite volume techniques. These models can handle flow in both rectangular flow domains and radial flow domains. The initial condition settings include the handling of very dry soil medium without any transformation of the governing equation, handling of infiltration and constant head conditions at the boundaries under steady state as well as transient scenarios. The models are also able to handle various soil moisture characteristics which depict the nonlinear behaviour between hydraulic conductivity, moisture content and pressure head in a soil media. A mixed form of the governing partial differential equation is used in the present study as it leads to better mass conservation. The finite difference model uses a central difference approximation for the space derivatives and an Eulerian backward difference approximation for the time derivative. The fully implicit formulation is solved iteratively using Strongly Implicit Procedure after making Picard approximation for the highly nonlinear coefficients. The process of infiltration into an initially dry soil leads to the development of a steep wetting front. As the finite volume technique is naturally an upwind method, it is expected to play a positive role in modelling such processes accurately. Hence, a finite volume model is also developed by approximating the convective part using a MUSCL approach and a fully implicit central difference method for the diffusive part of the governing equation. The models developed are validated using both experimental data and numerical solutions for problems reported in the literature. The validation problems cover a wide range of physical scenarios such as: infiltration into a very dry soil, infiltration into a dry soil column with gravity drainage, development of water table mound, steady state drainage in a sand filled wedge shaped tank with seepage face development and transient seepage face development in a rectangular domain. Five test problems are used for the validation of the models. The developed models perform very well for the test problems considered, indicating the models' capability in handling such situations. The results obtained by using the present models for simulating flow through highly unsaturated (very dry) soils show that the models perform very well when compared with models which use transformation techniques to handle such problems. The performance of the present models in comparison with the experimental data and numerical models available in the literature show the suitability of the present models in handling such situations. The present models are also used to analyse various types of unsaturated flow problems with varying initial and boundary conditions. The boundary conditions considered are no flow and /or free flow conditions along the left, right and bottom boundaries with infiltration condition along a part of the top boundary. For the various cases considered in the present study, infiltration rate varies from 5 cm/day to 50cm/day through an initially very dry soil of -15000 cm pressure head in homogeneous and layered soils. Different types of soil media considered vary from sandy loam, loam and clay with horizontal and vertical layering of these soils. A total number of 14 cases are analysed. The results are discussed in terms of pressure head variation in the flow domain along with moisture redistribution for all the cases under consideration. It is observed from these studies that the infiltration rate play an important role on the wetting front movement through layered soils depending on the type of layering and the boundary conditions considered. The soil properties of various layers affect the movement of wetting front by changing the direction of movement. Even though the wetting front movement is predominantly vertical, there is a tendency for the wetting front to move in the horizontal direction as it moves from a coarse soil to fine soil. It is also observed that the vertical layering of soils with different hydraulic conductivity helps in redirecting the flow towards the bottom boundary through the neighboring coarser layers. As finite volume method is more suitable for simulating sharp fronts, it is expected to perform better than finite difference method for simulating infiltration into very dry soils. So, a comparison is made between the performance of these two models by using the above test problems. It is observed from these studies that the performance of both the models are same except that the finite volume method takes much more CPU time than the finite difference model. Considering the type of problems tested, it is observed that for modelling unsaturated and saturated-unsaturated flows, finite difference method is better in comparison to finite volume method. It may be due to the predominant diffusive characteristics of the governing equation even while modelling flow through very dry soils. Proper estimation of the seepage height is an important aspect in finding the discharge through the porous medium. It is observed from the literature that the use of a saturated flow model in such situations can lead to an underestimation of the discharge through the porous medium. This effect is more important when dealing with small dimension problems. It is also observed that various parameters which govern the moisture movement through saturated-unsaturated regions affect proper estimation of the seepage face height and there by discharge. Various factors like effect of boundary conditions, type of soil layering, problem dimension and aspect ratio on seepage face development and the associated phreatic surface formation is studied in the present work. It is seen from the present study that the seepage face development is more in rectangular flow domain than in radial flow domain for both homogeneous and layered soils. It is also seen that the seepage face development in rectangular problems are more sensitive than radial flow problems for various factors considered. The seepage height is also influenced by the tail water level. It is seen from the present study that as the tail water level increases the seepage face reduces with no seepage face development for some of the cases studied. This influence is relatively less for radial flow problems. As the length of the domain increases the seepage height decreases. It is seen that for different cases with same horizontal dimension, as the height of the domain increases the seepage face height also increases. This phenomenon is observed for both homogeneous and layered soil medium. The influence of the aspect ratio, which is the ratio of the length to height of the domain indicate that as the aspect ratio increases the seepage height decreases. The type of the soil layering is observed to have a very strong influence on the seepage face development. The study for understanding the effect of soil layering on the development of seepage face and phreatic surface suggest that as the coarseness of the material increases, the phreatic surface become flatter and its steepness increases with the fineness of the soil. The present model is also used for studying the transient phreatic surface movement and the seepage face development. This is studied for homogeneous and layered rectangular soil medium. The present study is used to understand the effect of specific storage on the phreatic surface movement and the seepage face development. The studies indicate that the influence of specific storage on the seepage face development is insignificant in homogeneous soils with only very little effect in the early time for longer domains. It is also observed that the influence of the specific storage is significant in the case of layered soils. This effect depends on the type of layering and the problem dimension and is observed to have influence for relatively longer period. This observation suggests the importance of specific storage on transient seepage face development. When the specific storage effect is considered the drainage of the soil become faster resulting in a faster decline of the phreatic surface with time. The influence of specific storage is also studied considering the problem dimension effect. It is seen that as the aspect ratio increases, the effect of specific storage on the phreatic surface development decreases. The studies with change in the upstream boundary condition from a constant head to a no flow condition indicate that the effect of specific storage has no significant influence on the phreatic surface development for both homogeneous and layered soils.

A quantitative understanding of ground water flow characteristics in unconfined aquifers is important because of the prevalence of abstraction from, and pollution of these systems. The current understanding of ground water flow in unconfined aquifers is limited because of the dominance of horizontal flow modelling strategies used to represent unconfined flow processes. The application of horizontal flow principles leads to an ignorance of seepage-face formation and can not predict the complicated three-dimensional nature of the ground water flow that dominates at the ground water-surface water interface. This study aims to address some of these deficiencies by exploring the true three-dimensional nature of ground water flow including the formation of seepage faces at the ground water-surface water interface using numerical and laboratory techniques. A finite element model for simulating two-dimensional (vertical) variably saturated flow is developed and benchmarked against standard laboratory and field-scale solutions. The numerical features of the finite element model are explored and compared to a simple finite difference formulation. The comparison demonstrates how finite element formulations lead to a broader spatial averaging of material properties and a different method for the representation of specified flux boundaries. A detailed comparison analysis indicates that these differences in the finite element solution lead to an improved approximation to the partial differential equation governing two-dimensional (vertical) variably saturated flow. A laboratory analysis of unconfined ground water flow and associated solute transport characteristics was performed. The analysis focused upon unconfined flow towards a pumping well. The laboratory observations were reliably reproduced using a three-dimensional (axi-symmetric), variably saturated ground water flow model. The model was benchmarked against the ground water flow characteristics such as the seepage-face height and total flow rate. In addition, the model was shown to reliably reproduce the solute transport features such as travel times and streamline distributions. This is the first time that a numerical model has been used to reliably reproduce the solute transport characteristics near a seepage-face boundary where the three-dimensional flow effects are prevalent. The ability to reliably predict solute transport patterns in the seepage-face zone is important since this region is known to support vital microbially facilitated reactions that control nutrient cycling and contaminant attenuation. The three-dimensional travel time distribution near the seepage-face was compared to that predicted using a horizontal flow modelling approach derived from the basic Dupuit-Forchheimer equations. The Dupuit-Forchheimer based model indicated that horizontal flow modelling would under-estimate the total residence time near a seepage-face boundary, thereby introducing a considerable source of error in a solute transport analysis. For this analysis, a new analytical solution for the steady travel time distribution in an unconfined aquifer subject to a single pumping well was derived. The analytical model has identified, for the first time in the hydrogeology literature, the use of the imaginary error function. The imaginary error function is a standard transcendental function and an infinite series approach to evaluate the function was successfully proposed. The two-dimensional (vertical) ground water flow model was extended to handle the case where the flow is driven by density gradients near the ground water-surface water interface. The unsteady, two-dimensional, Galerkin finite element model of density-dependent ground water flow in variably saturated porous media is rigorously presented and partially benchmarked under fully saturated (confined) conditions. The partial benchmarking involved reproducing solutions to the standard Henry salt-water intrusion and the Elder salt-convection problems. The model was used in a standard density-coupled and a new density-uncoupled mode to elucidate the worthiness of the Henry and Elder problems as benchmark standards. A comparison of the coupled and uncoupled solutions indicates that the Henry salt-water intrusion problem has limited worthiness as a benchmark as the patterns of ground water flow are relatively insensitive to density-coupled effects. Alternatively, the Elder problem is completely dependent upon a correct representation of the density-coupled flow and solute transport processes. The coupled versus uncoupled comparison is proposed as a new test of the worthiness of benchmark standards. The Henry salt-water intrusion problem was further analysed in an attempt to alleviate some of the difficulties associated with this benchmark problem. The numerical model was tested against a re-evaluated version of Henry's semi-analytical solution for the coupled solute concentration distribution. The numerical model was used to propose a modified version of the Henry problem where the importance of density-coupled processes was increased. The modified problem was shown to have an improved worthiness as compared to the standard solution. The numerical model results were benchmarked against a new set of semi-analytical results for the modified problem. Certain advantages in using the modified problem as a test case for benchmarking the results of a numerical model of density-dependent ground water flow are identified. A numerical investigation of the patterns of density-driven ground water flow at the ground water-surface water interface was undertaken. The numerical model is shown to produce grid-independent results for a finely discretised domain. The pattern of discharge is controlled, in part, by two parameters. One describes the recharge applied to the aquifer, and the second describes the magnitude of the density differences between the fresh recharging fluid and the saline receiving fluid. The influence of dense intrusions upon the formation of seepage-face boundaries at the ground water-surface water interface under steady-state conditions was also investigated. Dense intrusions are shown to dominate the pattern of ground water flow only under mild recharge conditions, while seepage faces dominate the outflow pattern under strong recharge conditions. Therefore, the formation of seepage-face boundaries and dense intrusions are unlikely to coincide under the conditions examined in this study.

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The aim of the research is to assess the sustainability of groundwater supply and the suitability of hand-drilling techniques for accessing groundwater for irrigation practices along the shallow alluvial floodplains of River Benue, NE Nigeria. Hand-drilling techniques are affordable means for the farmers to abstract water from these shallow aquifers. Determining the most sustainable hand-drilling techniques (taking into account the hydrology and sedimentology of the floodplain) will improve farming activities and food security in this region and the country at large. Hydrological data (obtained from fieldwork and modelling) demonstrate that the River Benue is the main source for recharge of the shallow alluvial aquifers of the floodplain during the dry season period. Water table heights were estimated by resistivity survey using ABEM Terrameter equipment and measured by automatic piezometer instruments. Floodplain sedimentology and hydrogeology were assessed at seventeen natural riverbank outcrops and twelve hand-drilled boreholes. At each location, sediment samples were collected from every exposed sedimentological unit. Locations and elevations were measured using a ProMark3 dual frequency GPS instrument, to create a detailed topographic map with updated contours. Twenty-four electrical resistivity sounding profiles and twelve-groundwater measurement were also obtained to explore the groundwater level of the floodplain. The resistivity results confirm the availability of water in the alluvial aquifers of the floodplain. In order to determine the most appropriate hand drilling techniques, a Field Shear Vane Tester was used to measure sediment shear strength at twelve different borehole locations. Shear strength forces were higher on clayey silt and sandy silt, and lower on sand formations. It appeared that in some areas of the floodplain, the farmers are already above the shear strengths that can be provided by human power. Hence, any increase of the hardness of the surface of the sediment would make low-cost hand drilling impractical. Particle size analysis for the sediment samples showed that the samples were largely sandy in nature, which enables easy movement of water through the layers for aquifer recharge. Magnetic susceptibility (used to classify the source of sediment and the process of their formation) revealed that the main source of the sedimentary materials was upstream of the study site and varies little over time. The groundwater level of the study area decreased away from River Benue valley during the dry season period. One perched aquifer formations and possibly two others were observed in three different locations, which reflects a low-permeability stratigraphic unit (such as lens of clayey silt) within alluvial sands. These should be avoided by farmers, as they are likely to provide water only in the short-term. Finally, groundwater modelling was undertaken (with various scenarios) for the River Benue floodplain using acquired sedimentology and hydrology data integrated into MODFLOW software. The results revealed that low-cost hand-drilling techniques such as augering and jetting remain possible for abstracting the shallow alluvial aquifers on the floodplain for irrigation farming in the study area, unless the most likely low river water stages in River Benue, over-exploitation of the shallow alluvial floodplain groundwater and drought scenarios occur.

The need of making arsenic contaminated ground water potable is urgent in parts of Burkina Faso. An implementation of a treatment design using Granular Ferric Hydroxide (GFH) is under development. Water from a tube-well in Lilgomdé, Yatenga province, Burkina Faso, has been treated with the adsorbent GFH through column experiments. The water had an arsenic concentration varying between 99 and 215 μg/L and an average pH of 7.9. The study has shown that arsenic, predominantly in the form of arsenate, can be adsorbed to the material in significant amounts despite a high natural pH and the presence of ions competing with arsenic for adsorption sites on the GFH. When run through the column, the pH of the effluent water drastically decreased in the beginning. However, the low pH was soon followed by a slower readjustment towards the pH of the influent water. The adsorption of phosphates and fluorides was also studied. Both competitors exist in higher molar quantities than arsenic in the ground water. Even though arsenic displays a higher affinity for the GFH, an average 44 % of total phosphate and 64 % of the fluoride were adsorbed, making them a factor affecting the results of the study. Hydrogen carbonate is also believed to affect the adsorption process but this could not be confirmed. The empty bed contact time (EBCT), describing the average time of contact between the adsorbent and the water, has shown to be of importance. Increasing the EBCT resulted in notably more arsenic being adsorbed per volume GFH. When increasing the contact time, the study showed that reducing the speed of the flow was more effective than increasing the volume of the adsorbent. The GFH was also found to have a self-regenerating ability to a certain extent. When interrupting the experiment and leaving the column material in the aqueous solution for several days, the arsenic adsorption capacity after the break was shown to be higher than just before it. A 13 % increased capacity was shown in one experiment. Conclusively, the results of this study suggest no hindrances towards developing larger scale columns and prototypes to be applied at tube-well pump stations. Further investigations on the treatment method with GFH, on arsenic contaminated water, are recommended.

7 pp. / First in a planned series for each county in the state. / Limited information is available to the County Extension offices to address common concerns of water supply in rural Arizona. In addition, in the more metropolitan areas of the state, little is understood about water resources. This project is proposed to provide a ten to twelve page primer on water resources on a county-by-county basis, beginning with Yavapai County.

4 pp. / Following on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Arsenic Rule" decision to require public water systems to lower the allowable arsenic content in drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb by January 23, 2006, private well owners across the state have realized the importance of testing their own water supply for arsenic. Under Arizona law, it is the sole responsibility of the private well owner to determine the quality (potability) of their private well water. This article discusses the geologic prevelance of arsenic across the state, and options available to the well owner to address this water quality concern. Expected to be the first in a 3-part series on ground water quality issues common in Arizona.