Problem 6.4

Pickles are made in large wooden vats filled with brine of 10 g/L salt concentration. The base of each vat is square, 5-m to a side. At the Dill Pickle factory one of the vats begins leaking brine directly into a shallow aquifer at a rate of 0.1 m3/week. The leaking is distributed evenly over the vat's base area. The aquifer is 2-m deep and sits atop an impermeable clay layer. The density of the brine allows it to quickly disperse over the depth of the aquifer. The Pickle Company is not concerned about losing this small amount of brine, but the community using the aquifer for drinking water is concerned. The community well is located 500-m from the vats in the direction of groundwater flow. Assess the possible impact on drinking water quality by estimating the maximum salt concentration at the well. How long after the leak begins will this concentration be reached? The transport velocity (pore velocity) in the aquifer is 10-6 m/s. The molecular diffusion of brine is 10-9 m2/s. The longitudinal dispersion coefficient is 10-5 m2/s. The lateral dispersion coefficient is 10-6 m2/s.

Side View of Plume - Not to scale

 

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