Large scale soil-aquifer-treatment (SAT-MAR) physical model experiments to improve water quality

Abstract

The effluents from agriculture practices usually contain several contaminants creating an environmental concern to downgradient water bodies. The use of SAT systems to improve the effluents water quality, during the transport of infiltrated water through the unsaturated and saturated zones, can bring a solution for water reclamation, water reuse, and overall as a water resources management tool. The research was carried out under MARSOL project were SAT experiments were executed in a physical (sandbox) model. These experiments aimed to contribute solving the problem of removing rice field contaminants from water, using a soil-aquifer prototype basin to treat water prior to its discharge in Melides lagoon, Portugal. The sandbox model was divided into three sections to test the adsorption and biodegradation capacity of three soil profiles, two of them including soil mixtures of sand with vegetal compost with different layouts. In each section, two tracer experiments were performed with spiked fertilizer and hydrocarbons. To analyse the tracer’s behaviour, monitoring devices were installed in three piezometers for continuous in situ readings of pH, T, EC, ORP and water level, besides water sampling hand-pump for chemical analysis. The results obtained in the experiments gave useful knowledge necessary to build an in situ facility.