The Response of Saline Intrusion in Heterogeneous Aquifers to Tidal Change

世界上的人们喜欢住在海边。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构成了21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。地下水具有广泛的可获得性和抗旱能力，可在满足这一需求方面发挥至关重要的作用，尽管在沿海含水层的淡水和海水之间存在微妙的平衡。在提取太多水的地方，咸水可能会通过一种称为盐水入侵(SI)的过程进入供水系统。这种咸水入侵的程度取决于地下水资源的利用程度(即供水(抽水井))以及地质和气候条件。过度抽水，特别是在干旱期间，可能导致SI进入抽水井，导致供应中断或使人口暴露在污染之下，并有可能对健康造成不利影响。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，因为地下水往往是唯一使用的水。这个项目是对EPSRC资助的Salina项目的赞扬，该项目是皇后大学和伦敦帝国理工学院及其相关行业合作伙伴的合作项目。它将直接在实验室和现场尺度上，使用实验和模拟，调查潮汐周期和极端潮汐事件对咸水入侵运动的影响。考虑到抽象性、非均质性和裂缝对系统响应的影响，界面动态运动的复杂性将进一步增加。

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.