Mapping the Vulnerability of Groundwater to Wastewater Spills for Source Water Protection in a Shale Gas Region

Teresa Y. Rosales-Ramirez, Dirk Kirste, Diana M. Allen and Carl A. Mendoza
Additional contact information
Teresa Y. Rosales-Ramirez: Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Dirk Kirste: Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Diana M. Allen: Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Carl A. Mendoza: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-27

Abstract: Source water protection in areas of shale gas development encompasses identifying areas that are the most vulnerable to groundwater quality deterioration due to spills of natural gas production wastewater. This study uses the density-dependent flow and transport code TOUGH2 to quantify the time and distance of travel of saline wastewater plumes for different hydrogeological settings in Northeast British Columbia. The models were designed to address three main factors identified from the DRASTIC method for vulnerability assessment: (1) depth to water, (2) impact of vadose zone, and (3) conductivity of the aquifer materials. The vadose zone permeability and depth to water table are dominant controls on the wastewater migration rate and footprint. Overall, the vulnerability in the region is relatively low, with exceptions near river valleys and areas with shallow water tables. The vulnerability maps can be used as a preliminary risk assessment tool, as they are based on the main factors influencing the potential of a wastewater spill to contaminate an aquifer.

Keywords: wastewater; TOUGH2; numerical model; aquifer vulnerability; DRASTIC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3987/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3987/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3987-:d:529530

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().