Deep groundwater resources - quantity, quality, and protection

深层地下水含水层可能是一种宝贵的资源，特别是在未来几十年和几个世纪的严重干旱期间和干旱地区。现在，在加利福尼亚、德克萨斯、中东和其他干旱地区，钻到几公里深的地下水井越来越普遍。处理方案正在改进，微咸水（和海水）现在经常被淡化以供人类食用。虽然区域和全球都在努力确定含盐和微咸地下水的特征，但这些努力的重点是相对较浅的深度。此外，这些研究一般没有综合考虑饮用水水质要求、灌溉有毒元素浓度和工业水质需求。此外，我们需要证据表明，深层地下水可以用来证明其免受人为活动的保护是合理的。通过深层地下水特征和分析，本研究项目将有利于决策者、政府、农业和工业用水用户管理和保护深层地下水资源。******数据分析与建模，统计和可视化技术和地下水样本收集和分析将用于回答重要问题，如：多少深层新鲜和可用地下水的体积？这些水有多少是可用的？需要多少治疗？对其使用的潜在影响是什么？我们应该如何/在哪里/什么时候收集更多的数据？研究结果可以促进深层地下水监测和保护以及水处理技术的创新。考虑到未来新信息和方法的可用性，我们的想法是用开源建模和分析工具构建一个适应性强的分析框架，它可以为决策提供及时的信息。******在为期五年的项目期间，三名研究生（一名博士和两名硕士）和三名本科生将接受地下流动和运输，分析和数值模拟，地理空间和统计数据分析以及水样收集和质量分析的基础培训。培训将通过三项研究来实现：(1)深层地下水特征和模型开发-以美国西南部为例；(2)全球和区域深层地下水数据库建设与分析；(3)供人类消费、灌溉和工业使用的深层地下水。学生将获得适用于广泛的科学和工程领域的技能，包括地下水，废物处理，石油和天然气，并为加拿大政府，学术界和工业界的劳动力做出贡献。新的研究项目还将加强加拿大的地下水、农业和地下能源研究，以及对全球科学和发展社区的贡献，并保护未来人类和生态系统的健康。

Deep groundwater aquifers may be a valuable resource, especially during severe droughts and in arid regions, in decades and centuries to come. It is now increasingly common to find groundwater wells drilled to several-kilometer depths in California, Texas, the Middle East, and other arid regions. Treatment options are improving and brackish water (and seawater) is now routinely desalinated for human consumption. Although there are regional and global efforts to characterize saline and brackish groundwater, these efforts focus on relatively shallow depths. In addition, these studies generally do not comprehensively consider drinking water quality requirements, toxic element concentrations for irrigation, and industrial water quality needs. Furthermore, we need evidence that deep groundwater can be used to justify its protection from anthropogenic activities. Through deep groundwater characterization and analysis, this research program will benefit policy-makers, governments, and agricultural and industrial water users to manage and protect deep groundwater resources. ******Data analysis with modeling, statistics, and visualization techniques and groundwater sample collection and analysis will be used to answer important questions such as: what is the volume of deep fresh and usable groundwater? How much of this water is available? How much treatment is needed? What are the potential impacts of and to its use? How/where/when should we collect more data? The results can spur new innovations in deep groundwater monitoring and protection and in water treatment technologies. In light of future availability of new information and methods, the idea is to build an adaptable analysis framework with open-source modeling and analysis tools that can provide timely information for policy-making. ******Over the five-year duration of the program, three graduate (one Ph.D. and two Master) and three undergraduate students will be trained in the fundamentals of subsurface flow and transport, analytical and numerical modeling, geospatial and statistical data analysis, and water sample collection and quality analysis. The training will be achieved through three studies: (1) Deep groundwater characterization and model development – a case study on the southwestern U.S.; (2) Deep groundwater database development and analysis at global and regional scales; and (3) Deep groundwater for human consumption, irrigation, and industrial uses. The students will acquire skills applicable in a wide range of science and engineering fields, including groundwater, waste disposal, and oil and gas, and contribute to Canada's workforce in government, academia, and industry. The new research program will also strengthen Canada's groundwater, agriculture, and subsurface-based energy research and its contributions to the global science and development community, and protect future human and ecosystem health.