Title: Understanding Geochemical Fluxes Between Groundwater and Surface Water: Scoping Report
Author: C P Young
Author: K Blackmore
Author: J Turrell
Author: P Godbold
Author: D B Oakes
Author: L Clark
Author: P Dempsy
Author: Environment Agency
Document Type: Monograph
Annotation: Environment Agency Project ID:EAPRJOUT_1077, Representation ID: 333, Object ID: 2348
Abstract:
In many situations groundwater and surface water should be considered a single resource since rivers are effectively the ‘outcrop’ of groundwater at the surface. Contaminated aquifers that discharge to streams can cause long term contamination of surface water sources, and some influent streams may also be a source of contamination to aquifers. The Environment Agency believes there are good reasons to suspect that further improvements in water quality in some of our rivers will not be achieved until the groundwater - surface water geochemical flux is understood and the sources of groundwater contamination are dealt with. The Agency have, therefore, commissioned a scoping study to determine the state of knowledge on surface water and groundwater interactions. The study concludes that: A large amount of historic and current data relevant to the assessment and quantification of geochemical fluxes in the UK, already exists in reports and databases. Much of these data are held on a regional basis rather than in terms of the River Basin Districts defined in the Water Framework Directive. The review and comparison of water quality data between Regions and the re-evaluation of existing water quantity data can be used to develop a series of preliminary conceptual models of geochemical fluxes and of processes controlling surface and groundwater interactions on a catchment level. This valuable groundwork, which could be achieved at relatively low costs, will provide a baseline on which future research requirements should be based. Potential research topics arising as a result of this project, and to fulfil the UK’s requirements in terms of the Water FD, are listed.
Publisher: Environment Agency
Subject Keywords: Water Framework Directive; Groundwater; Surface water; Water quality; Environmental protection; Geochemical surveys; Freshwater ecology; Geochemistry
Extent: 165
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:4589
Total file downloads: 335
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