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A Transparent Modelling Workflow for the Assessment of Surface Water-Groundwater Exchange Flux at a PCE Contaminated Site

Benavides Höglund, Nikolas LU orcid ; Sparrenbom, Charlotte J. LU and Hugman, Rui (2023) AGU23, 2023 American Geophysical Union
Abstract
Contaminated sites constitute a global problem as they pollute important freshwater systems at a local scale. To effectively address these sites for remediaton, we must first characterize the sites in order to gain an understanding of the geological setting. This step is crucial as it helps determine groundwater flow pathways and the dynamics of surface water-groundwater exchange within these systems.

In Hagfors, Sweden, an industrial-scale dry-cleaning facility was in operation from the 1970s to the 1990s. During this period, a large quantity (>50 tonnes) of the dry-cleaning fluid perchloroethylene (PCE) was spilled into the ground, polluting the groundwater. Consequently, a nearby stream was contaminated from polluted... (More)
Contaminated sites constitute a global problem as they pollute important freshwater systems at a local scale. To effectively address these sites for remediaton, we must first characterize the sites in order to gain an understanding of the geological setting. This step is crucial as it helps determine groundwater flow pathways and the dynamics of surface water-groundwater exchange within these systems.

In Hagfors, Sweden, an industrial-scale dry-cleaning facility was in operation from the 1970s to the 1990s. During this period, a large quantity (>50 tonnes) of the dry-cleaning fluid perchloroethylene (PCE) was spilled into the ground, polluting the groundwater. Consequently, a nearby stream was contaminated from polluted groundwater discharge. The stream meanders through a sparsely populated area, posing risks to the residents and local fauna exposed to the contaminant. Due to difficulties in remediating the source zone, decision makers shifted their focus towards mitigating contaminated groundwater influx into the stream.

We have developed a composite numerical model using open-source software (LUMPREM, MODFLOW, and PEST) to characterize and quantify surface water-groundwater exchange fluxes at the Hagfors site from 2016 to 2020. The modelling workflow is documented through Jupyter Notebooks, covering input dataset preparation, model setup, result analysis, and figure generation. All notebooks are available on Github: htps://github.com/nikobenho/hagfors_gwm.

The model underwent history-matching, integrating conventional observations (heads, stream stage, streamflow) and unconventional data (distributed temperature sensing and expert knowledge). Predictive uncertainties were explored using the iterative ensemble smoother. The results highlighted specific segments of the stream that are particularly susceptible to contaminated groundwater influx. Based on this, we recommend decision makers to prioritize their remediation efforts on these identified segments. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Surface water-groundwater interaction, Groundwater modeling, Contaminated sites, Parameter estimation, Model calibration
conference name
AGU23, 2023 American Geophysical Union
conference dates
2023-12-11
project
Improving hydrogeological characterization using groundwater numerical models and multiple lines of evidence
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3bbc1798-ea89-4013-8405-4e03f243226f
date added to LUP
2024-01-23 16:06:47
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:26:15
@misc{3bbc1798-ea89-4013-8405-4e03f243226f,
  abstract     = {{Contaminated sites constitute a global problem as they pollute important freshwater systems at a local scale. To effectively address these sites for remediaton, we must first characterize the sites in order to gain an understanding of the geological setting. This step is crucial as it helps determine groundwater flow pathways and the dynamics of surface water-groundwater exchange within these systems.<br/><br/>In Hagfors, Sweden, an industrial-scale dry-cleaning facility was in operation from the 1970s to the 1990s. During this period, a large quantity (&gt;50 tonnes) of the dry-cleaning fluid perchloroethylene (PCE) was spilled into the ground, polluting the groundwater. Consequently, a nearby stream was contaminated from polluted groundwater discharge. The stream meanders through a sparsely populated area, posing risks to the residents and local fauna exposed to the contaminant. Due to difficulties in remediating the source zone, decision makers shifted their focus towards mitigating contaminated groundwater influx into the stream.<br/><br/>We have developed a composite numerical model using open-source software (LUMPREM, MODFLOW, and PEST) to characterize and quantify surface water-groundwater exchange fluxes at the Hagfors site from 2016 to 2020. The modelling workflow is documented through Jupyter Notebooks, covering input dataset preparation, model setup, result analysis, and figure generation. All notebooks are available on Github: htps://github.com/nikobenho/hagfors_gwm.<br/><br/>The model underwent history-matching, integrating conventional observations (heads, stream stage, streamflow) and unconventional data (distributed temperature sensing and expert knowledge). Predictive uncertainties were explored using the iterative ensemble smoother. The results highlighted specific segments of the stream that are particularly susceptible to contaminated groundwater influx. Based on this, we recommend decision makers to prioritize their remediation efforts on these identified segments.}},
  author       = {{Benavides Höglund, Nikolas and Sparrenbom, Charlotte J. and Hugman, Rui}},
  keywords     = {{Surface water-groundwater interaction; Groundwater modeling; Contaminated sites; Parameter estimation; Model calibration}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  title        = {{A Transparent Modelling Workflow for the Assessment of Surface Water-Groundwater Exchange Flux at a PCE Contaminated Site}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/197168026/Hagfors_AGU_abstract.pdf}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}