Simulation of Groundwater Contamination Flow and Transport

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to predict the migration pathways and concentrations of contaminants in groundwater. By constructing a model to investigate computational flow and transport of contaminants within groundwater that represents the situation at a Canadian Forces Base Borden landfill in Ontario that was used as a refuse/ waste dump from 1940 to 1973 and then as a sanitary landfill. The model will be constructed using the site- specific geology and hydrogeology data collected as part of the site characterization. The Groundwater Vistas program will be used to construct the model to produce flow and transport of the contamination source which is placed in this model. The use of three – dimensional grid and a steady- state flow condition which can be justified and thus adequately forecast plume development. The model will be extensively used to determine the area of influence from a contamination source, optimize the design, and predict the performance when using a pumping system as a remediation. In order to delineate the capture of the plume of contaminated water in this model, it is necessary to have one or more pumping wells, which pump the contaminated water from ground to surface for treatment. The pumping wells are located down hydraulic gradient of the contamination source area at various depths and locations with different pumping rates. Each well will have what is known as a capture zone, which is an area contributing flow to that particular well. Computation of capture zones to determine the optimum number of extraction wells, their locations and rate at which they should be pumped will be undertaken.