The Response of Saline Intrusion in Heterogeneous Aquifers to Tidal Change

全世界的人都喜欢住在海边。目前，53%的人生活在距离海岸200公里以内的10%的地球表面上。预计到2050年，这一比例将上升到75%。满足沿海社区的需求是世纪社会面临的主要挑战之一。这些地区的高人口密度产生了一系列环境压力，需要工程解决方案。其中最重要的是提供可持续的淡水供应，通常是在已经缺水的地区。由于地下水的广泛供应和对干旱的适应能力，地下水可以在满足这一需求方面发挥重要作用，尽管沿海含水层中的淡水地下水和海水之间存在着微妙的平衡。如果抽取的水太多，盐水会进入供水系统，称为盐水入侵（SI）。这种盐水入侵的程度取决于地下水资源的使用水平（即供水（抽取威尔斯）），沿着地质和气候条件。过度抽水，特别是在干旱期间，可能导致SI进入抽水威尔斯井，导致供水损失或人口受到污染，并有可能对健康产生不利影响。沿海水资源的污染在每个有人居住的大陆都很普遍，这对水资源管理者来说是一个持续的挑战，因为地下水通常是唯一的用水。这个项目是对EPSRC资助的SALINA项目的补充，该项目是皇后大学和伦敦帝国理工学院及其相关工业合作伙伴之间的合作。它将直接调查在实验室和现场规模，使用实验和模拟，潮汐周期和极端潮汐事件对运动的盐水入侵的影响。通过考虑抽采、非均质性和裂缝对系统响应的影响，将进一步增加界面动态运动的复杂性。

The world's population likes living by the sea. Currently 53% of people live on the 10% of the earth's surface that is within 200km of the coast. This is forecast to rise to 75% by 2050. Meeting the needs of coastal communities forms one of the major challenges facing society in the 21st Century.High population density in these areas generates a suite of environmental stresses that require engineering solutions. Foremost amongst these is the provision of sustainable fresh water supplies, often in areas that are already water-stressed. With its widespread availability and resilience to drought, groundwater can play a vital role in meeting this need, although a delicate balance exists between fresh groundwater and seawater in coastal aquifers. Where too much water is extracted, saltwater can enter water supplies in a process called saline intrusion (SI). The extent of this saline intrusion is governed by the levels of use of groundwater resources (i.e. water supply (abstraction wells)), along with geological and climatic conditions. Over pumping, particularly during periods of drought, can result in SI into abstraction wells leading to the loss of supply or the exposure of the population to contamination and the risk of adverse health impacts. The contamination of coastal water resources is pervasive across every inhabited continent and represents an ongoing challenge for water managers where groundwater is often the only water used.This project compliments the EPSRC funded SALINA project, a collaboration between Queens University and Imperial College London and its associated industrial partners. It will directly investigate at laboratory and site scales, using both experiment and simulations, the influence that the tidal cycle and extreme tidal events has on the movement a saline intrusion. The complexity of the dynamic movement of the interface will be further added to by consideration of the effects of abstraction, heterogeneity and fractures on the system response.