MSc thesis Andreas Antoniou - Hydrological study of Laura area - Majuro atoll (RMI)
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Transcript of MSc thesis Andreas Antoniou - Hydrological study of Laura area - Majuro atoll (RMI)
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Hydrological study of Laura area in Majuro atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands
Andreas Antoniou
Supervisors: Vincent Post, Peter Sinclair
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PHYCOS (Pacific Hydrological Cycle Observing System) – key messages
Strengthen the capacity of small island countries to conduct water resources assessment and monitoring as a key component of sustainable water resources management.
There is a need for capacity development to enhance the application of climate information to cope with climate variability and change.
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PHYCOS (Pacific Hydrological Cycle Observing System)• Jointly funded European Union and SOPAC regional
initiative
• 14 participating countries in the Pacific
• Project aims to assist countries in developing their data sets and knowledge on their available water resources by employing equipment and technical support that will lead to appropriate decision making in the future
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Majuro atoll – Marshall Islands
• Northern hemisphere of the western Pacific Ocean• Total land area of the entire atoll is 11.14 km2
• Population in Majuro was estimated to 25400 in 2004
Laura provides 60% of the total reticulated water requirements for Majuro
Laura provides 60% of the total reticulated water requirements for Majuro
Laura provides 60% of the total reticulated water requirements for Majuro
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Majuro atoll - Climate
• Average annual temperature: 27.2 °C• Average annual rainfall: 356 cm/year • Period from June to December typically receiving about
75% of the annual rainfall (www.noaa.gov)
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Majuro atoll - Vegetation
• 70% of Laura is covered by forest (mainly coconut trees)• 27% consists of grassland and low vegetation types• 3% is used for agricultural purposes
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Majuro atoll - Geology
Hamlin & Anthony, 1987
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Majuro atoll - Geology
• Holocene deposits• Upper sediment (6 - 12 m thickness)
• unconsolidated, calcareous, well-sorted beach sand• Lower sediment (10-12 m thickness)
• more cohesive and heterogeneous mixture of calcareous silts, sands and coarse-coraline materials
• Pleistocene sediments• Lower limestone (reached between 17 and 25 m)
• dense, well-consolidated limestone with greater overall porosities and permeabilities than the relatively unaltered Holocene deposits.
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Laura – Existing infrastructure
• 10 monitoring sites (3 – 4 boreholes each site)
• 7 public pumping wells (only 4 operating today)
• Private hand-dug wells
• Meteo station – Daily temperature and rainfall measurements
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Mission purpose
• Quantifying lens size• Monitoring of water quality• Raise public awareness
Minor tasks• Rehabilitation of monitoring
network• Survey to determine site
elevations
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Mission purpose
• Geophysics• 6 EM-34 transects• 10 VES
• 10 Monitoring borehole sites
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GeophysicsEM-34 drawbacks:
• When using it for simple profiling with a single separation length, changes in conductivity cannot be connected to specific depths
• In high-conductivity environments such as seawater-saturated sediments, conductivity measurements obtained with the coils in the horizontal coplanar position are not stable
• VES measurements as well as borehole data were used for verificationFrom Tony Falkland
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Electrical Conductivity measurements in monitoring boreholes
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Private wells
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Groundwater assessment interpretations
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Storage – Lens size• Based on the 6 transects where
the EM-34 measurements took place (extrapolating lens area of each profile)
• Uniform unsaturated zone of 1.42 meters was assumed to exist in the whole area occupied by the lens as well as a porosity of 20%
• Area occupied by freshwater lens: 1.51 km2
• Potable water: 2,678,000 m3
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IDEXX Colilert® reagent
Water quality
• 33 monitoring boreholes – weekly basis – 160 samples
• Bacteria analysis (E.Coli test)
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IDEXX Colilert® reagent
Water quality
5 col/100mL
10 col/100mL
20 col/100mL
Monitoring boreholes
Pumping wells
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Tidal & rainfall impact on water table
11/19/07 0:00 11/24/07 0:00 11/29/07 0:00 12/4/07 0:00 12/9/07 0:00 12/14/07 0:00 12/19/07 0:00 12/24/07 0:000
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Fluctuation of water level in pumping well 5
Wat
er le
vel b
elow
gro
und
surfa
ce
(ft)
Significant rainfall event causing increase in water level (November 25)
3-hours delay
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Tidal & rainfall impact on water table
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
24-hour water table fluctuation
Time
Wat
er le
vel (
ft)
Sea tides
Tidal impact on groundwater level
Pumping well 5
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Rainfall influence on water table and EC of well 3-38A
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Calculating tidal lags and damping
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Calculating tidal lags and damping
1/30/2008 14:24 1/30/2008 19:12 1/31/2008 0:00 1/31/2008 4:48 1/31/2008 9:36 1/31/2008 14:24 1/31/2008 19:120
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3 2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
5-28
WLEC
time (hours)
wat
er le
vel (
m)
cond
uctiv
ity (m
S/cm
)
2/3/2008 12:00 2/4/2008 0:00 2/4/2008 12:00 2/5/2008 0:001.3
1.351.4
1.451.5
1.551.6
1.651.7
1.751.8 0.7
0.8
0.9
WLEC
time (hours)
wat
er le
vel (
m)
Con
duct
ivity
(mS/
cm)
delay 1:17 h delay 1:13 h delay 1:58 h
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Tidal delays – efficiencies
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
site 1site 2site 3site 4site 5site 6
Tidal efficiency (%)W
ell s
cree
n de
pths
(m)
0:00 0:28 0:57 1:26 1:55 2:24 2:52 3:210.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
site 1site 2site 3site 4site 5site 6
Tidal delay (hours)
Wel
l scr
een
dept
hs (m
)
Tidal delay decreases with depth as we approach the transition zone
Tidal efficiency increases with depth as we approach the transition zone
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Calculating heads – horizontal fluxes• Density differences
• Convert all the measured hydraulic heads into theoretical fresh water heads for each depth referenced to the same elevation (10 m depth)
• Correct for delay of each borehole
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Horizontal flows analysis – 10 m depth
head values of some wells intersect the head values of other wells in time, meaning that there is not a single flow direction between these wells but it can invert during the same tidal cycle
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Horizontal flows analysis
16 meters depth
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Horizontal flows analysis
16 meters depth
• Possible explanation: combined effect of water abstraction from the nearby pumping wells and the intensive irrigation in the farm
• Existence of low permeability layer at relatively shallow depth
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Laura lens simulation using SEAWAT
• Simulating the creation of a freshwater lens in a salt water aquifer (Salt concentration = 35000 mg/L) without tidal boundary conditions
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Laura lens simulation using SEAWAT
Transect 6
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Laura lens simulation using SEAWAT
• Simulating the tidal effect on the freshwater lens for a period of 6 months using a variable head boundary condition
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Laura lens simulation using SEAWAT
Transect 6
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Public awareness• 2 meetings with Laura community at Laura high school
• 2 meetings with Laura Lens Protection Committee and with RMI ambassador in Fiji
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Summary - Conclusions
• Lens extension – depth• Lens size estimated with
combined use of geophysics, borehole information and private wells
• Water quality survey• Identified contours of pollution.• Differences in concentration
with depth• Monitoring is continued on
monthly basis by EPA and MWSC staff
Tidal impact Water table can fluctuate
up to 1 m on daily basis Salinity of groundwater is
also affected by sea tides – EC can vary with a range of up to 3000 μS/cm within one tide cycle
When sampling a well, always account for tidal impact
Propagation of tidal signal is much more important in the vertical sense
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