Groundwater - surface water interactions in coastal and inland settings

该项目侧重于沿海和内陆地区地表水和地下水之间的相互作用。地下水排放可能是向近岸海洋环境输送过量营养物或重金属等污染物的一个重要途径。 由于潮汐波动和海水每天在涨潮时流入沿海含水层，这一环境在水文上非常动态。 该项目的一个组成部分是为了提高我们的能力，以测量水和溶解的化学品在这个重要的界面交换的空间和时间变化。 该研究还探讨了当羽流在水生受体所在的海滩表面排放之前通过含水层中的潮汐混合区时控制污染物稀释程度的因素。 在内陆地区，该项目将研究地下水流量、地下水供水抽取量之间的相互作用，以及在低流量条件下对河流流量的影响。 在不列颠哥伦比亚省的弗雷泽山谷，地下水的长期可持续利用可能会受到低流量条件下地下水抽取对溪流生境的累积影响的限制。 将开发的建模方法，提供了一个大规模的，长期的地下水开发对径流的影响，预测能力大大提高。在本研究的第三部分中，我们将研究现有理论描述水渗透通过部分饱和，非均质多孔介质的能力。 这项研究将集中在一个独特的数据集，已收集到描述水通过废石堆，这是在几乎所有的矿山发现的运动。 这项研究将有助于提高理解和管理与矿山作业和关闭有关的地下水和地表水长期影响的能力。它也将适用于其他涉及渗透到粗糙、异质沉积物中的情况。

This project focusses on the interactions between surface water and groundwater in both coastal and inland settings. Groundwater discharge can be an important pathway for delivering either excess nutrients, or contaminants such as heavy metals, to the near-shore marine environment.  This setting is hydrologically very dynamic, as a result of tidal fluctuations and the daily movement of seawater into coastal aquifers at high tide.  One element of the project is designed to enhance our capability to measure the spatial and temporal variations in the exchange of water and dissolved chemicals across this important interface.  The study also examines the factors controlling the extent of contaminant dilution as a plume moves through the tidal mixing zone in an aquifer, before it discharges on the beach face where aquatic receptors reside.  In inland settings, the project will examine the interactions between groundwater flow, groundwater withdrawals for water supply, and impacts on stream flow during low-flow conditions.  In the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, it is likely that the long-term sustainable use of groundwater will be constrained by the cumulative effects of groundwater withdrawals on stream habitat during low-flow conditions.  Modeling approaches will be developed that provide a much-improved capability for projecting large-scale, long term impacts of groundwater development on streamflow. In a third component of this study, we will be examining the capability of existing theories to describe water infiltration through partially saturated, heterogeneous porous media.  This study will focus on a unique data set that has been collected to describe the movement of water through waste rock piles, which are found at nearly all mine sites.  This study will contribute to an improved capability for understanding and managing the long-term impacts on groundwater and surface water associated with mine operations and closure. It will also be applicable to other settings that involve infiltration into coarse, heterogeneous sediments.