Evaluation of groundwater travel time through a multilayered aquifer using multiple tracers and a novel transport approximation

Abstract Aquifer long-term replenishment (ALTR) is a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) strategy by which reclaimed water is continuously delivered by injection wells to depleted, confined aquifer systems to increase groundwater storage and increase the potentiometric surface over space and time. One implication of large-scale continuous recharge is a large radial impact and the need to quantify transport in radially extensive strata. The use of an artificial tracer can be cost-prohibitive as the radial front moves further from the injection well. This investigation employs a novel approximation for radial transport to track the radial front of recharge, injectate constituents and simulation of tracer breakthrough concentrations under transient recharge rates, variable depth-dependent flow distributions over time, and variable influent concentrations. Six constituents—sulfate, chloride, total organic carbon (TOC), fluoride, 1,4-dioxane and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)—were chosen to evaluate conservative transport and semiqualitatively assess attenuation of nonconservative constituents relative to conservative tracers. Results indicate that sulfate acted as the most effective conservative tracer for characterization of transport and travel times at the study site. The analytical model was modified to account for variable operations at the MAR demonstration facility and was effective in simulating breakthrough curves over the period of performance, particularly sulfate concentrations at a monitoring well located 104 m from the injection well. The behavior of the remaining constituents is discussed, and the qualities of an effective intrinsic tracer for future ALTR projects are identified.