Tritium and Noble Gases for Pollution Vulnerability Assessment of Shallow Aquifers

Considering the widespread and increasing water quality deterioration of shallow aquifers especially in agriculture and urban dominated areas, pollution vulnerability assessment is a pressing issue for many MS and addressed in SDG6. The relative residence times (and hence remediation timeframe) for dispersed non-point source pollutants in shallow aquifers are a result of differential transport mechanisms compared to the water molecule, especially in the unsaturated recharge zone. Estimation of time scales of contaminant introduction and its residence times in the unsaturated and saturated zones help water authorities adopting mitigation and remediation strategies, especially in the case of widespread non-point pollution. This CRP will apply integrated environmental water, gaseous and pollutant isotope tracers for the estimation of these contributions, leading to a better pollution vulnerability assessment and consequently implementation of mitigation strategies. Addressing these issues is directly related to SDG6 and the Subprogram 2.3.3

The main focus of the CRP will be the assessment of the usefulness and relevance of the combined use of water and gaseous tracers in recharge and vulnerability studies is shallow aquifers systems. The use of such isotopes in hydrological modelling validation for groundwater vulnerability mapping purposes.