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

自《清洁水法》(2006年)出台以来，水源保护已成为市政地下水管理计划的一个组成部分。这项立法的目的是通过以科学为基础的合作水源保护计划，确定并减轻对当地供水的潜在威胁，以保护现有和未来的饮用水来源。然而，由于气候和土地利用的变化、人口增长和社会经济压力，地下水可持续利用可能会出现重大不确定性。这些不确定性促使该部支持对安大略省的水量管理框架进行审查。这项提议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，并辅之以直接支持和加强市政地下水保护计划的强有力的科学协议，推进覆盖冰川沉积物的碎裂沉积基岩含水层的水源保护和水资源管理战略。特别适用于高度非均质沉积物(150米深)的先进表征和监测技术将对照常规收集的数据集进行评估，方法是系统地吸收五个相互关联的城市的现有和同时先进的区域地下水流动模型，这些城市依赖于一个共享的志留系白云岩含水层。拟议的研究将采用多学科方法，在与井口保护区划定、土地利用监测和城市规划相关的尺度上了解区域地质构造、地下水流动路径和地下水-地表水相互作用。这项研究的结果将为不断发展的安大略省社区提供一个以科学为基础的工具箱，以便更好地了解他们的地下水资源，从而使开发了解数据的地下水监测网成为可能。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.