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Assessing sewer–groundwater interaction at the city scale based on individual sewer defects and marker species distributions

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

By combining a sewer defect database and hydrogeological information, it has been attempted to assess sewer–groundwater interaction at the scale of the city of Rastatt (SW-Germany). Comprehensive hydrochemical samplings, including a series of new marker species, have been conducted in the urban aquifer and used for validation. The iodated X-ray contrast media, amidotrizoic acid and iothalamic acid, can be considered as highly specific for wastewater influence and have been found in several groundwater observation wells.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG) within the research group “Risk potential from leaky sewers for soil and groundwater”. Additional funding has been provided by the European Union in the frame of the AISUWRS project. Furthermore, the authors express their thanks to V. Tropf, J. Kramp, and P. Polak from the city of Rastatt for fruitful collaboration, Prof. Möller from GFZ Potsdam for taking and measuring gadolinium samples, and I. Held from the University of Karlsruhe for good co-operation within the project. PD Dr. Matthias Eiswirth died in an accident following the submission of this document. With him a tireless initiator of urban hydrogeological research and a good friend was taken from our community far before his time. We will keep him in our memories and remain thankful for everything he has given us.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Geology, University of Karlsruhe, 76128, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Leif Wolf, M. Eiswirth & H. Hötzl

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  1. Leif Wolf
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  2. M. Eiswirth
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  3. H. Hötzl
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Correspondence to Leif Wolf.

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M. Eiswirth deceased

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Wolf, L., Eiswirth, M. & Hötzl, H. Assessing sewer–groundwater interaction at the city scale based on individual sewer defects and marker species distributions. Environ Geol 49, 849–857 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0180-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0180-x

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