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

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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.