Fate of emerging organic contaminants during managed aquifer recharge (ERASE)
Project type
Postdoc Research Project (TUD Open Topic Postdoc Position)
Funding
Technische Universität Dresden, OTPP Programme
Duration
11.2017 - 10.2019
Background
Rapid urbanization coupled with industrial activities has increased the demand for water resources and has led to the generation of wastewater and to the aquifer ́s overexploitation. Urban groundwater is a valuable resource for the water supply and a key factor in the management of urban areas, however, natural recharge is often not enough to supply the local water demand. Under this context, manage aquifer recharge (MAR) is a suitable technique to overcome water shortage and to reuse wastewater. Common sources of water for MAR purposes are treated wastewater effluents and rivers, which frequently contain a wide range of emerging organic compounds (EOCs). EOCs are anthropogenic substances (such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, etc) that recently have been an issue of concern for several reasons. First, most of them do no present quality standards. Second, they have been widely detected in surface waters and groundwater at concentrations that range from ng/L to mg/L. Third, even when only present at trace levels, they might pose ecological risk such as interference with the endocrine system of high organisms, microbiological resistance, and accumulation in soil, plants and animals. Overall, the concentration of EOCs is decreased during MAR due to attenuation processes such as adsorption, biodegradation and transformation processes during the passage of water through the soil-aquifer system. However, the extent of removal varied from one compound to another and it depends on a broad amount of environmental factors such as such as the redox conditions, the hydraulic and textural properties of the soil, the temperature, the microbial community and the residence time.
Objectives
In this context, the general aim of this project is to study the behaviour of EOCs during MAR. Especial attention will be devoted: (1) to investigate the degradation processes (i.e., redox and sorption) and (2) to identify the most suitable conditions that enhanced the removal of selected EOCs during MAR at a laboratory and field scale. The research gaps addressed are: (a) What conditions/processes control subsurface removal of EOCs during MAR? (b) Which is the optimal MAR design to remove EOCs (Lab scale)? (c) What is the variation of EOCs removal during MAR at regional scale (field scale)?
Contact
- Dr. Anna Jurado
- Dr. Catalin Stefan