Groundwater 1.
72
Charles Harvey
(1) About three and one-half years ago, Rutchs Tavern in Dock Hill New York dumped a secret
chemical into the Neversink River. The name of this chemical cannot be released for legal reasons but it
has an intoxicating effect and is not suitable for pregnant women, children, or anyone needing to drive to
work or operate heavy machinery. Hence there is concern that it may reach drinking wells near
Wanaksink Lake. To help track the chemical plume, 7 monitoring wells were installed approximately 3
and one-half years ago. Head values in these wells have been fairly constant over the past three and onehalf years. However, a recent increase in hurricanes has affected the hydrology of the region, and
measurements suggest that the head values have changed. Right before the hurricanes, the chemical was
been found near its solubility of 100 mg/l in monitoring wells 1-5, but there was no trace of the chemical
in wells 6 or 7. Seward consulting (the local consulting firm), has collected other useful data: the aquifer
has bulk density of 1.8 g/cm3, and a porosity of 0.3, and the chemical has a partition coefficient of 0.25
l/kg (you may assume equilibrium sorption). Unfortunately, some of the chemical entered the consulting
firms drinking water supply and they were unable to take measurements of hydraulic conductivity and
no longer have the mental capacity to work on the problem. Being MIT students, youve been put on the
spot to estimate hydraulic conductivity based on the given information and to estimate how long it will
take until the concentration will take to reach an intoxicating level of 10 mg/l in the drinking wells. The
time to reach an intoxicating level is needed before any remedial action can take place (60 points).
Drinking
Wells
7
5
X [m]
Wanaksink
Lake
Neversink
River
Y [m]
Head [m]
3.5 years ago
to start of
hurricanes
Present
River
Well 1
Well 2
Well 3
Well 4
Well 5
Well 6
Well 7
153.17
150.34
151.05
144.52
142.13
141.37
139.35
137.29
156.85
158.55
155.7
144.78
139.99
135.85
133.37
128.25
Some other useful information follows. A good plot from Gelhar et al., 1992 for estimating dispersivity
is shown below (dont worry about the reliability):
An approximate solution to the advection dispersion for a constant solute flux with initial concentration
Co with a 0 concentration for a remote boundary is:
C=
Co
x vt
erfc
2
2 Dt
Where erfc is the complementary error function, x is the spatial distance, v is the mean velocity of the
solute, D is the dispersion coefficient, and t is time.
(2) The diagram below shows a confined, homogeneous, and isotropic aquifer beneath a circular island
of radius 100 m in a lake. A pumping well is located in the middle of the island. Flow is steady state.
In the picture below the hatched circle in the middle is the well, which is fully screened across the entire
aquifer. Flow is horizontal to the well. The confined aquifer is 8 m thick. The extraction rate is 75.4
m3/day. The hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is 30 m/day. The porosity is 0.3. Assume no flow
through the confining layer and steady-state conditions.
WELL
ISLAN D
LAKE
100 m
(a) What is the gradient of hydraulic head at the edge of the island? Assume no flow through
the confining layer and steady-state conditions. (10 points)
(b) The lake contains 1 g/L bromide (not enough to significantly change the density).
Bromide is a conservative tracer (i.e. no chemical reaction, or sorption), and does not exist in
the groundwater before pumping. If we assume that both diffusion and dispersion are
negligible how long does it takes for the bromide to reach the well after pumping commences?
Still assume steady state. (10 points)
(c) The lake also contains 1 g/L lithium. Lithium sorption may be accurately modeled with a
linear equilibrium isotherm. From a line of sampling wells you determine that just when the
bromide reaches the pumping well, the lithium has traveled only 29.3 m from the edge of the
island towards the pumping well. What is the retardation factor for lithium?(10 points)
(d) Plot the breakthrough curves at the well for bromide and lithium. Also show a
breakthrough curve for bromide when dispersion occurs. Is the breakthrough time of 0.9 g/L
and 0.1 g/L of bromide increased or decreased compared to the arrival time of the solute
front with no dispersion? (10 points)
