Advancement of groundwater multi-level system technologies for improved management of source water in fractured sedimentary bedrock

自2006年《清洁水法》出台以来，水源保护已成为市政地下水管理计划的重要组成部分。这项立法的目的是保护现有和未来的饮用水源，通过以科学为基础的水源保护合作计划，识别和减轻对当地供水的潜在威胁。然而，由于气候和土地利用变化、人口增长和社会经济压力，地下水可持续利用可能出现重大不确定性。这些不确定性促使该部支持对安大略省水量管理框架进行审查。该提案旨在通过开发和验证高分辨率地下水表征和监测基础设施，并辅以直接支持和加强市政地下水保护计划的强大科学协议，推进具有冰川沉积物的破碎沉积基岩含水层的水源保护和水资源管理策略。先进的表征和监测技术，特别适用于高度非均质沉积物（<150米深），将根据传统收集的数据集进行评估，这些数据集通过系统同化到现有的和同时先进的区域地下水流动模型中，这些模型跨越五个相互关联的城市，依赖于共享的志留纪白云岩含水层。拟议的研究将采用多学科的方法来了解区域地质构造、地下水流动路径以及与井口保护区划定、土地利用监测和城市规划相关的地下水-地表水相互作用。这项研究的结果将为日益增长的安大略省社区提供一个基于科学的工具箱，以更好地了解他们的地下水资源，从而使数据为基础的地下水监测网络的发展成为可能，这些社区的任务是在动态的相互依存的生态/水文系统中管理共享的地下水资源。这些活动将支持以科学为基础的地下水管理政策，确保为不断增长的加拿大社区提供安全和可持续的饮用水。

Source water protection has become an integral component municipal groundwater management plan since the introduction of the Clean Water Act (2006). The purpose of this legislation is to protect existing and future sources of drinking water, through collaborative science-based source water protection plans that identify and mitigate potential threats to local water supplies. However, significant uncertainties in sustainable groundwater use may arise through climate and land use changes, population growth, and socioeconomic stresses. These uncertainties have inspired a Ministry-supported review of Ontario's water quantity management framework. This proposal aims to advance source water protection and water resource management strategies in fractured sedimentary bedrock aquifers with overlying glacial sediments, through the development and validation of high-resolution groundwater characterization and monitoring infrastructure, augmented by robust scientific protocols that directly support and enhance municipal groundwater protection plans. Advanced characterization and monitoring techniques, specifically adapted to highly heterogeneous sediments (<150 m deep), will be evaluated against conventionally collected data sets through systematic assimilation into existing and concurrently-advanced regional groundwater flow models across five interconnected municipalities reliant on a shared Silurian dolostone aquifer. The proposed research will adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to understand regional geologic formations, groundwater flow paths, and groundwater-surface water interactions at scales relevant to wellhead protection area delineation, land-use monitoring, and urban planning. The results of this research will provide growing Ontario communities, tasked with managing a shared groundwater resource within dynamic inter-dependent ecologic/hydrologic systems, with a scientific-based toolbox to better understand their groundwater resource, thereby enabling the development of data-informed groundwater monitoring networks. These activities will support science-based groundwater management policies that ensure safe and sustainable drinking water for growing Canadian communities.