Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2002NJ3B

Measurement and Prediction of Hydraulic Properties Needed to Model Groundwater Quality in Southern New Jersey

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2002 Start Date: 2002-03-01 End Date: 2003-03-01
Total Federal Funds: $30,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $63,998

Principal Investigators: Daniel Gimenez

Project Summary: Shallow groundwater contamination poses a serious environmental problem; contaminants in surficial aquifers will eventually migrate and contaminate groundwater resources used as public or domestic supply (deeper aquifers). Best management practices designed to reduce the loading of chemicals to the groundwater are being used in an attempt to reduce contamination of the unconfined (shallow) aquifers of southern New Jersey. Unfortunately, the impact of these management practices on the quality of groundwater is typically manifested after several years of being implemented Processes taking place in the vadose (unsaturated) zone are assessed through simulation models that quantify the effect of various scenarios of climate and management strategies on groundwater quality. These numerical models simulate the fate of contaminants by codifying the basic laws governing water movement and chemical transport through soil. We propose to develop pedotransfer functions of the major soils and sediments present in southern New Jersey. We will characterize the hydraulic properties of the sediments using samples collected by the U.S. Geological Survey.