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GW-SW Contaminant Flux Toolbox
Citation:
Fritz, K., B. Lien, S. Dyment, R. Ross, M. Noerpel, J. Goetz, S. Jacobs, B. Butler, T. Luxton, A. Wade, L. Brase, A. Lehmann, T. McGarr, P. Li, P. Grap, C. Kessler, R. Soltanian, D. Ward, AND D. Sturmer. GW-SW Contaminant Flux Toolbox. EPA Region 8 Training Webinar, Denver, CO, March 01, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
This training workshop will summarize the use of cost-effective techniques to monitor groundwater-surface water exchange under complex hydrologic settings encountered at mine sites. Various types of instrumentation, deployment methods, monitoring network design, and data analysis approaches will be discussed with illustrative examples. The workshop will provide Regional technical staff and project managers with strategies to optimize site characterization and focus remedial resources to target contaminant source areas of greatest impact.
Description:
Evaluating the interactions of groundwater with bodies of surface water can be challenging, especially in settings where the natural hydrogeologic conditions are overprinted by man-made subsurface infrastructure. This is especially challenging in the headwaters of a watershed, where intermittency of water flow makes selection of optimal times to sample for potential contaminant impacts difficult. This overview addresses several low-cost alternatives for describing the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of water flows to help inform when samples of water chemistry should be collected. Focus is given to techniques to characterize the timing and magnitude of groundwater flux to better understand its contribution to surface water degradation. Strengths and limitations of the various techniques will be presented, along with proposed options for coupling techniques to address hydrologic uncertainties.