Groundwater is an important natural resource in Sweden due to almost 50 % of the produced drinking water origins from groundwater, 50 % of the groundwater is artificially made. Artificial recharge is necessary in some areas in Sweden to enable enough groundwater extraction for the drinking water supply. Artificial recharge will affect the groundwater levels in the system. The infiltration of water can also affect the spread of pollution in the area. The effect of pollution spreading is due to the change in available oxygen in the system. When infiltrating water, the soil can go from anaerobic- to aerobic conditions, which in turn can cause mobilization of pollutants. This master project was carried out in collaboration with the consultancy company WSP. In this thesis, an esker assessed as suitable for artificial recharge from a hydrogeological point of view, is investigated regarding the contamination spread. Stockholm vatten och avlopp (SVOA) is investigating the possibilities for producing drinking water by artificial recharge in the esker. The area has been identified as a potential hazardous area by the Swedish environmental protection agency and increased levels of zinc, lead and copper have been found in the soil. The aim with this project is to investigate how zinc, lead and copper could spread in the groundwater for the current situation. This project also aims to investigate how the artificial recharge would affect the groundwater levels in the system as well as the effect of the spread of zinc, lead and copper regarding the mass transport, transportation time and the contaminant plume. A hydrogeological model was created in MODFLOW where the effect of infiltration was simulated. Models for groundwater transport as well as mass transport was created in MODPATH respectively in MT3DMS. The hydrogeological model´s Normalized root mean square (nRMS) was 7,4 % and the maximal residual between observed and simulated groundwater levels was 0, 16 meters. Two different scenarios for artificial recharge were investigated, one called pilotförsöket and the other called fullskaleanläggningen. For the pilotförsöket was 100 L/s infiltrated and for fullskaleanläggningen was 280 L/s infiltrated, the amount of extracted groundwater was assumed to be equal as the amount of infiltrated surface water. The simulations were indicating that the groundwater levels could rise up to 7 meters locally around the infiltration area. The groundwater levels closer to the extraction wells could decrease by 4 meters in pilotförsöket and decrease by 10-15 meters in fullskaleanläggningen. The simulations of zinc, copper and lead in the infiltration area, are indicating an increase in maximal concentration as well as an increase for the plume of contaminants as a result of infiltration. The maximal concentrations in the simulations of pilotförsöket were found to be in the following ranges 4x10-5 to 2,8x10-8 mg/L for lead; 8 x10-4 to 2,5x10-6 mg/L for copper and 0,012 to 9x10-4 mg/L for zinc. Fullskaleanläggningen resulted in the highest concentrations of the simulated scenarios. The following ranges were observed in the simulations of fullskaleanläggningen 4,5x10-5 to 4x10-8 mg/L for lead; 0,014 till 2,5x10-6 mg/L for copper, and 0,035 till 3x10-3 mg/L for zinc. The plume of contaminants was observed to increase with an increasing amount of infiltrated water. During the simulation period of 10 years, the simulation implies that zinc, copper and lead mainly will be transported close to the infiltration area. The results for simulations in all scenarios indicate that the plume of contaminant will not reach the extraction wells. These results can be due to longer transportation times than 10 years, as well as that the increase volume of water in the system will dilute the levels of metals. This master project indicates that the artificial recharge in the area will affect the groundwater levels in the system. Due to the change in groundwater levels can also the spread of zinc, copper and lead increase in magnitude and in size. This master project also indicates that zinc, copper and lead would not reach the extraction wells in high levels within a 10 years period. The simulations indicate that the area could be appropriate to use for artificial recharge, when considering zinc, copper and lead. This assessment is only based on the simulations of the mass transport of zinc, copper and lead and with the assumption that the contaminated soil would be excavated if an infiltration area is built. Even though the simulations indicate that the area could be appropriate. Other pollutants that was found, but not simulated, at increased levels could have a different transportation time as well as mass transport from the infiltration area. Regarding the age of the landfill it is likely in the methanogenic phase and leaching of contaminants could already have happened decades ago. With these two aspects in mind, my recommendation is that more investigations are made regarding the spread of other pollutants as well as the level of zinc, lead and copper in the groundwater closer to the extraction wells.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-159889 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Hedenborg, Amanda |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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