Groundwater - surface water interactions in coastal and inland settings

该项目的重点是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质或重金属等污染物的重要途径。由于潮汐波动和涨潮时海水每天进入沿海含水层，这种环境在水文上是非常动态的。该项目的一个要素旨在增强我们测量这一重要界面上水和溶解化学物质交换的时空变化的能力。该研究还研究了当羽流通过含水层的潮汐混合带时，污染物稀释程度的控制因素。在水生生物受体所在的海滩面上排放之前。在内陆环境中，该项目将研究地下水流动、供水地下水取水以及在低流量条件下对溪流的影响之间的相互作用。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取水对溪流栖息地的累积影响的限制。我们将开发新的建模方法，为预测地下水开发对溪流的大规模长期影响提供更好的能力。在这项研究的第三部分，我们将检验现有理论描述水通过部分饱和的、非均质多孔介质的渗透的能力。这项研究将集中于收集的一组独特的数据集，该数据集描述了水通过废石堆的运动，几乎在所有矿场都能找到。这项研究将有助于提高了解和管理与矿山运营和关闭相关的对地下水和地表水的长期影响的能力。它也将适用于其他涉及渗透到粗糙、非均质沉积物中的环境。

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.