Journal article
Evaluating the effects of variable water chemistry on bacterial transport during infiltration
Journal of contaminant hydrology, v 150
01 Jul 2013
PMID: 23673087
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Bacterial infiltration through the subsurface has been studied experimentally under different conditions of interest and is dependent on a variety of physical, chemical and biological factors. However, most bacterial transport studies fail to adequately represent the complex processes occurring in natural systems. Bacteria are frequently detected in stormwater runoff, and may present risk of microbial contamination during stormwater recharge into groundwater. Mixing of stormwater runoff with groundwater during infiltration results in changes in local solution chemistry, which may lead to changes in both bacterial and collector surface properties and subsequent bacterial attachment rates. This study focuses on quantifying changes in bacterial transport behavior under variable solution chemistry, and on comparing the influences of chemical variability and physical variability on bacterial attachment rates. Bacterial attachment rate at the soil-water interface was predicted analytically using a combined rate equation, which varies temporally and spatially with respect to changes in solution chemistry. Two-phase Monte Carlo analysis was conducted and an overall input-output correlation coefficient was calculated to quantitatively describe the importance of physiochemical variation on the estimates of attachment rate. Among physical variables, soil particle size has the highest correlation coefficient, followed by porosity of the soil media, bacterial size and flow velocity. Among chemical variables, ionic strength has the highest correlation coefficient. A semi-reactive microbial transport model was developed within HP1 (HYDRUS1D-PHREEQC) and applied to column transport experiments with constant and variable solution chemistries. Bacterial attachment rates varied from 9.10 x 10(-3) min(-1) to 3.71 x 10(-3) min(-1) due to mixing of synthetic stormwater (SSW) with artificial groundwater (AGW), while bacterial attachment remained constant at 9.10 x 10(-3) min(-1) in a constant solution chemistry (AGW only). The model matched observed bacterial breakthrough curves well. Although limitations exist in the application of a semi-reactive microbial transport model, this method represents one step towards a more realistic model of bacterial transport in complex microbial-water-soil systems. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Details
- Title
- Evaluating the effects of variable water chemistry on bacterial transport during infiltration
- Creators
- Haibo Zhang - Drexel UniversityNahjan Amer Nordin - Drexel UniversityMira S. Olson - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Journal of contaminant hydrology, v 150
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 11
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000320088700006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84877744013
- Other Identifier
- 991019222900604721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences
- Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
- Water Resources