RIVER POLLUTION ATTENUATION IN AQUIFERS

UTM-CIAM helped NAHRIM to manage and protect the water supply.

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The Problem

 

In tropical countries like Malaysia where the rainfalls continuously recharge river flow, the main source of dependable water supply is essentially river water. However, as development and economic activities spreads, the management of water resources can be very critical due to increase demand as well as environmental degradation. Pollution of rivers has made surface water unsuitable for sources of raw water for treatment and in certain cases has caused the treatment costs to rise unexpectedly. One of the alternative ways to improve dependable clean portable water supply that is being considered is through Bank Infiltration (BI) technology as a second source of water supply to guarantee clean and dependable water supply solution without neglecting the polluted surface water.

To manage and protect the water supply, transport processes need to be predicted by using the BI method. To date, the method has mostly been studied by using mathematical solutions.

To identify infiltration-related parameters, such as optimum pumping rate and distance between the riverbank and the production well, data on travel time, pathlines, and influence zone of river water were determined to characterize the interactions between water in the river and the alluvial aquifer are important factors that influence the BI method. The applications of mathematical solutions are important in transportation studies and to predict pathogen attenuation during transportation and artificial recharging. Primarily, the requirements for soil retention time need to be met to prevent pathogens and anthropogenic impact on the environment.

Another goal of the mathematical solutions was to obtain pertinent data regarding BI implementation and its results, which can be used by water operators.

The solution

 

UTM-CIAM helped NAHRIM to develop a mathematical model that can be used to simulate three major processes related to Riverbank filtration which are: (1) Groundwater flow and contaminants transport from river towards the pumping well (2) arrival time needed by contaminants to reach the well and (3) evolution of water chemistry due to microbial activity.

Team members: Mohd Khairul Nizar Shamsuddin, Shaymaa Mustafa, Zainal Abdul Aziz, Aderito Araujo, Sharidan Shafie, Faisal Salah, Farhad Ali, Arshad Khan.

 
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Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM Nexus - Research & Innovation

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