RESEARCH IN HYDROGEOLOGY
Research 2007: Further work is currently underway examining opportunities for sustainable rural regeneration as part of quarry restoration. Several scenarios are being examined for the integrated use of sustainable energy and heat pumps for district heating schemes. The incorporation of natural floating wetlands into quarry restoration is being assessed (www.quarry-restoration.com).
Hafren Water are part of the Hyporheic Network (see www.hyporheic.net)
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Hafren Water maintains a keen interest in the ongoing developments within the fields of hydrogeology and hydrology and the interaction between groundwater and surface water systems. Strong links are maintained with the Hydrogeology Research Group at the University of Birmingham, with Hafren Water in regular collaboration on MSc research projects. Recently Hafren Water has been awarded two research projects through the Minerals Industry Research Organisation (MIRO) as part of the Mineral Industry Sustainable Technology Programme (http://www.mi-st.org.uk/), these are listed below.
Considerable experience exists within the company in the field of groundwater – surface water interactions and the hyporheic zone as a result of research by Dr Paul Ellis whilst at Birmingham University prior to his appointment at Hafren Water. Also during this period he was involved in the EU-funded ALIANCE project (Advanced Logging Investigations of Aquifers in Coastal Environments) to set up and test an experimental site in a fractured granite aquifer in Brittany, France.
From February 2002 to July 2004 Hafren Water was contracted by the Environment Agency to project manage R&D projects on behalf of the Science Group (formerly the National Groundwater and Contaminated Land Centre). These included:-
- Contaminant fluxes from hydraulic containment landfills – a review
- Groundwater Regulations (1998) scoping report for codes of practice
- Foot and mouth source term project
- Contamination from cemeteries
- Water company's crytospyridium risk assessments
- Technical review of the Agency’s guidance on sampling procedures
- Monitoring of poorly permeable aquifers
- Bacterial contamination of watercourses and bathing waters from farm waste disposal
- P20 model sensitivity analyses
Effect of quarry water discharges on stream flows in the Mendip
Hills
Completed September 2005, MIRO-MIST project (MA/4/2/022)
Objective
To review aspects of quarry water management to determine the sensitivity
of watercourses to changes caused by quarry discharge. The study assessed
whether the cumulative effects of the existing water management have
any adverse effects on stream ecology and, if so, whether management
of discharges could be refined to provide greater protection.
Report is available on the MIST website, under Research Projects, Section B (MA/4/2/022)
Water-based quarry restoration: methodologies, technologies and
approaches
End January 2007, MIRO-MIST project (MA/5/2/005)
Objective
The project objective is to review water-based restoration methodologies
and determine the success of different strategies employed subsequent
to extraction beneath the watertable. Key elements will be the development
of assessment criteria to prioritise water-based restoration objectives
and the determination of the physical and practical constraints on each
restoration scheme. The focus will be on the hydrogeological and hydrological
environment and the influence that this will have on the final restoration
scheme. The engineering requirements associated with different restoration
objectives will form an integral part of the study. It is intended that
the project will inform the planning process such that restoration schemes
could be tailored to address local issues such as low flows, scarce water
resources, flooding, landscape setting and ecological diversity.
A summary of the project can be found on the MIST website, under Research Projects, Section C (MA/5/2/005) and further details are available on the project website (www.quarry-restoration.com).
The impact of urban groundwater upon surface water quality
1999 – 2003,
PhD
The research was sponsored by the UK Environment Agency which is concerned that improvements achieved in the quality of surface water, as a result of better control of industrial effluent discharges and industry closures, may be limited by the long-term release of pollutants from contaminated land to the underlying groundwater that subsequently discharges to urban river systems. Using a case study approach, field investigations were undertaken at different scales on a 24 km reach of the River Tame, Birmingham. The research ranged from a regional-scale study of groundwater discharge (from the Birmingham Triassic Sandstone Aquifer), to the localised investigation of individual contaminant plumes discharging through the riverbed.
The project was broad-based and necessitated the collection and integration of large sets of water quality (inorganics and VOCs), head and flow data from surface water and groundwater in piezometers in the riverbed and across the aquifer. Equipment was designed and installed to monitor groundwater/surface water interactions and water quality in the riverbed and geochemical analyses performed to obtain concentrations for the inorganic determinands and chlorinated solvents. The data were used to develop a regional conceptual model of the sandstone aquifer discharging to the overlying alluvial gravels and the river. Water-quality sampling indicated a wide range of diffuse and localised contaminants discharging to the river with natural attenuation processes apparent. Water quality data were used to show the different origins of the water discharging through a cross-section of the riverbed and the transition in physical and chemical properties that occurred across the groundwater/surface water interface.
Numerical modelling was used to examine groundwater flow across a river meander and through a vertical section across the valley; a simulation of unsaturated flow was used to examine the groundwater response to transient river levels. The quality and flow data were combined to provide estimates of the geochemical mass flux to the river that indicated a limited impact due to dilution by the surface water and natural attenuation. However localised ‘hot spots’ with high contaminant concentrations were identified within the riverbed in plume discharge areas.
Useful link- http://www.GSIwebpage.net