Probabilistic Modelling in the Water Industry

The water authorities in England and Wales, which have now become water companies, recently had to provide anticipated costs for maintaining the water supply and sewerage systems over the next 20 years. Probabilistic models and statistical inference provide an opportunity to quantify the uncertainty in such exercises. Their use in a study undertaken by a water authority in the north-east of England is described and illustrated with interim data which were available at an early stage in the exercise.     

Contamination of Chalk Groundwater by Chlorinated Solvents: A Case Study of Deep Penetration by Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids

The transport behaviour of chlorinated solvents, both in the aqueous phase and as a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL), in fissured microporous aquifers is reviewed. The presence of DNAPL in aquifers is especially serious as it is likely to be the main subsurface source of contamination and, given the slow rates of dissolution in groundwater, may persist for decades. However, the identification and quantification of DNAPLs in fractured aquifers present many practical problems and are often not achievable.
A case study of a Chalk site which had been contaminated by chlorinated solvents demonstrated that the use of a range of techniques, including depth profiling of solvent porewater concentrations in cored boreholes, can provide clear evidence for the presence of DNAPL at depth, although DNAPL was not itself observed. Theoretical considerations and field observations confirmed that DNAPL movement is via fractures rather than through the microporous matrix.