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Assessment of vulnerability and control measures to protect the Salbarua ecosystem from hypothetical spill sites

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Abstract

Population pressure, urbanization, and industrial developments, among other factors, have resulted in severe degradation of environmental resources such as wetlands. Thus, a groundwater model (MODFLOW) was integrated with a particle tracking MODPATH model to simulate the hydrodynamic flow head field and to analyze the vulnerability of the Salburua ecosystem and propose control measures to protect the riparian area. The simulations show that pathways of particle tracking originating at potential contaminant sources will tend to migrate downwards towards the sensitive ecosystem, which suggests that the quality of the hydrological ecosystem is likely to deteriorate in the future. Variation in exit points of particles indicates that the time-related capture areas are affected by changes of the hydraulic gradients. Two control measures of potential sources of pollutants in the vicinity of the Salbarua ecosystem were analyzed. The study results suggest that the travel time-related capture zone with a funnel-and-gate system is much smaller than without the control alternative, which indicates that the gate configuration has an effect on capture zone size and shape and on the residence time with a better attenuation performance. It is also shown that a leakage-proof barrier is less effective for point-source containment, assuming that hydraulic control performance and cost-efficiency are the criteria for pollution control effectiveness. Instead, a program of monitoring wells would effectively characterize water quality in the aquifer and provide a decision support system. This approach may be used in helping water managers to develop more physically based and quantitative protection strategies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the National Institute of Meteorology (INM) for providing all data and primary information on the studied Quaternary system. The authors are also grateful to the University of the Basque Country, CONACyT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de México), the Consejo Mexiquense de Ciencia y Tecnología (COMECYT), and the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM) for supporting this research. We are also immensely grateful to Jennifer Hancox and Amanda Sills for their review and comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions, which improved the final quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering (CIRA), Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, C. P. 50130, Toluca, Mexico

    Jaime Gárfias, Javier Salas-García & Luvina Bibiano-Cruz

  2. Department of Geodynamics, University of the Basque Country, 48940, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain

    Hilario Llanos

  3. Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-ETE), Québec, QC, G1K 9A9, Canada

    Richard Martel

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  1. Jaime Gárfias
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  2. Hilario Llanos
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  3. Richard Martel
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  4. Javier Salas-García
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  5. Luvina Bibiano-Cruz
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Correspondence to Jaime Gárfias.

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Gárfias, J., Llanos, H., Martel, R. et al. Assessment of vulnerability and control measures to protect the Salbarua ecosystem from hypothetical spill sites. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 26228–26245 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2672-0

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