Delineation of wellhead protection zones using analitical models and groundwater modelling, Margarita aquifer, Cuba

J. Gárfias; J.L. Expósito; H. Llanos

doi:10.21701/bolgeomin.119.1.001

Authors

J. Gárfias Universidad Autónoma del Edo. de México. Fac. de Ingeniería (CIRA)
J.L. Expósito Universidad Autónoma del Edo. de México. Fac. de Ingeniería (CIRA)
H. Llanos Universidad del País Vasco. Dpto. de Geodinámica

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.119.1.001

Keywords:

Capture zone, groundwater flow modelling, Margarita aquifer, Particle tracking

Abstract

Delineating capture zones plays an important role in the protection of drinking water wells. Analytical models can be used to delineate capture zones. However, because of the singularity and occasional inaccuracy of such methods, specially in the application to heterogeneous aquifers, their results are frequently uncertain. In such cases, groundwater flow modelling presents an alternative for the delineation of capture zones. In this paper, four analytical models and a groundwater model are compared to delineate traveltime-related capture areas of a well in the Margarita aquifer. The model presented here explicitly represents the capture zone desing problem using particle tracking analysis to determine flowpath trajectories and formalizes the desing procedures used by many government's agencies. Based on the case study, it is shown that numerical modelling provides more accurate protection zones than analytical models. The risk of delineation errors are discussed and the potential risks of over or under-protecting the well are presented. It appears that the analytical models do not accurately represents shallow, partially penetring wells, or heterogeneous and anisotropic sediments for the purposes of simulating contributing areas and traveltimes in complex groundwater systems. Particle tracking analysis can be used as an alternative to contaminant transport models in cases where they are not feasible due to budget constraints or the lack of chemical data.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bair, E.S., Springer, A.E. y Roadcap, G.S. 1991. Delineation of traveltime-related capture areas of wells using analytical flow models and particle-tracking analysis. Ground Water, 29 (3), 387-397. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1991.tb00529.x

Ceric, A. and Haitjema, H. 2005. On using simple time-of travel capture zone delineation methods. Ground Water, 43 (3), 408-412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2005.0035.x

Cordes, C. and Kinzelbach, W. 1991. Continuous velocity fields and pathlines in linear, bi and trilinear finite differences. Water Resources Research, 28 (11), 2903-2911. https://doi.org/10.1029/92WR01686

Expósito, J.L. 2001. Delimitación de los perímetros de protección de pozos mediante las técnicas numéricas y el método analítico, acuífero Margarita, Cuba. Tesis de maestría, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 119 p.

Frind, E.O., Molson, J.W. y Rudolph, D.L. 2006. Welll Vulnerability: a quantitative approach for source water protection. Ground Water, 44 (5), 732-742. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2006.00230.x

Guiguer, N. and Franz, T. 2001. Visual ModFlow v. 2.8.1. Waterloo Hydrogeologic, Inc. Ontario, Canada.

Hassan, A.E. and Mohamed, M.M. 2003. On using particle tracking methods to simulate transport in single-continuum and dual continua porous media. Journal of Hydrology, 275, 242-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(03)00046-5

Kinzelbach, W., Marburger, M. and Chiang, W. 1992. Determination of groundwater catchment areas in two and three spatial dimensions. Journal of Hydrology, 134, 221-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(92)90037-V

Kunstmann, H. and Kinzelbach, W. 2000. Computation of stochastic wellhead protection zones by combining the first-order second-moment method and Kolmogorov backward equation analysis. Journal of Hydrology, 237, 127-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00281-X

López, J.A., Martínez, C., Moreno, L., Navarrete, P. y Baeza, J. 1996. Guía para la elaboración de perímetros de protección de aguas minerales y termales. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Madrid, 104 pp.

Moreno, L. y Martínez, C. 1991. Guía metodológica para la elaboración de perímetros de protección de captaciones de aguas subterráneas. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Madrid, 290 pp.

NC 93-01-209. 1990. Norma Cubana. Procedimiento de cálculo para la determinación de la zona de protección sanitaria. Instituto de Normalización de la República de Cuba, 43 pp.

Oliva, G., Luis, E. y Sánchez, E.A. 1989. Nuevo atlas nacional de Cuba. Academia de Ciencias de Cuba. 220 pp.

Oradoskaia, A.M. y Lapchin, N.N. 1987. Protección Sanitaria alrededor de los pozos de aguas subterráneas. Nedra, Moscú (en ruso), 168 pp.

Paradis, D., Martel, R., Karanta, G., Lefebvre, R., Michaud, Y., Therrien, R. y Nastev, M. 2007. Comparative study of methods for WHPA delineation. Ground Water, 45 (2), 158-167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2006.00271.x

Pérez, F., Menéndez, A. y Pérez, O. 1998. Experiencias en el cálculo de la distancia de protección sanitaria en las fuentes de abasto de aguas subterráneas en las provincias de Ciudad de la Habana y Matanzas, Cuba. La Habana, archivos CENHICA-INRH, 13 pp.

Pollock, D. 1988. Semianalytical computation of pathlines for finite difference models. Ground Water, 26 (6), 743-750. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1988.tb00425.x

Price, M. 1996. Introducing groundwater. Allen and Unwin (ed). London, 272 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1811-2

Vasielivich, B. 1989. Levantamiento geológico del norte de Las Villas, Cuba. La Habana, archivos Oficina Nacional de Recursos Minerales, 130 pp.

Vassolo, S., Kinzelbach, W. and Schafer, W. 1998. Determination of a well head protection zone by inverse stochastic modeling. Journal of Hydrology, 206, 268-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(98)00102-4