Xenobiotics as process oriented basin scale tracer to evaluate the risk of direct effluent infiltration (SMART, BMBF)

This project is part of the „Sustainable Management of Available Water Resources with Innovative Technologies– SMART“ carried together with the Universität Karlsruhe and the Umweltforschungszentrum (UfZ). It is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF).



The overall aim of this research project is the development of a transferable approach for an integrated water resources management (IWRM) in semi-arid regions with water shortage. This goal can be achieved by means of a multilateral, interdisciplinary research group, comprising members from science and industry, including local NGOs and authorities. On the basis of scientific, engineering, and socio-economic analyses the IWRM shall contribute to a more efficient utilization of scarce water resources and the implementation of more efficient solution strategies and management tools. A water resources model along with the adaptation of existing and development of new technical solutions will contribute to this. The IWRM shall initiate a self-supporting process in the area under investigation which will continue after the completion of the research project. The goal is a marked improvement of the water shortage situation which could result in an overall advancement of the region. The leading notion of SMART is the inclusion of every water deposit in the examined area, including sewage, heavily salty waters and floodwaters, as exploitable resources. This requires a comprehensive and integrated management and utilization approach. Hence, a surveying and valuation of the water resources, which have not yet been regarded worth considering for use due to lack of quality or storage capabilities, is called for. Dependent on the further disposition and the local conditions appropriate reuse techniques shall be determined as well as solutions for aquifer storage developed. The implementation of these new solutions requires the establishment of a broad infrastructure (e. g. pipelines, boreholes, waterworks, pumping stations, distribution systems, irrigation systems, wastewater systems) for the regional water management. This integrative way of realizing a water management system is innovative and thus no empirical knowledge can be drawn from existing IWRMs in arid regions. Because of this there is a considerable global need for research in this area.

The aim of the hydrochemical work is the identification of typical and chemically different key substances in the sewages and their monitoring at the wells and spring. A screening (organic and inorganic chemical analysis, non-target analysis) of sewage water, wells and spring will be carried out at the very beginning of the project to identify possible compounds to be selected as key substances. Hereby, these key substances later selected for monitoring should be typical for the sewage encountered, show some resistance to biodegradation, and, at the same time, differ in their transport behavior/chemical nature. For the latter, uncharged compounds differing in their octanol water partitioning coefficient and oppositely charged compounds must be selected to cover a broad range of retardation mechanisms and therefore account for the surface heterogeneity existing in the aquifer. By doing so, the conduit surfaces and the conduit system can be better characterized yielding valuable parameters and calibration data for the modelling part.

This requires, however, robust, sophisticated chemical analytical methods since the key substances must be analysed with the same precision in the various types of water (i.e. sewage (input), ground water, salt water) encountered at the field site. No such specific methods are readily available and must be developed and verified at the beginning of the project. A further critical point that will be addressed in the project is the sample preservation since this specific analysis cannot be carried out in the field. In total 4 sampling campaigns are planned under different hydrogeological conditions (summer, winter). These campaigns will focus on a highly time resolved sampling of the sewage input and selected wells to establish travel times, flow paths etc. They will be used to verify and calibrate the model. Additionally, some selected wells will continuously be monitored for sum parameters (i.e. UV 254nm). Since these parameters should reflect the sewage impact and they will therefore depend on the sewage composition and selected once the screening results are obtained. The field work will be complemented by laboratory studies in which the transport behaviour of the selected key compounds is investigated under controlled conditions in column experiments. These studies are vital, as they allow minimizing the ambiguity of the field data increasing the overall precision of the model calibration and in turn allowing model predictions. The parameters gained in the study (Adsorption/Desorption) will further be vital input data for the model.

For more information please contact tlicha@gwdg.de