goodwater

WP 15 develops methods for the enhanced degradation of pesticides in transition zones around water abstraction fields. Changes in the abstraction pattern may lead to mixing of different water types in the near-zone around water abstraction fields with complex geological structures e.g. with dual porosity. Such mixings may be beneficial, since groundwater contaminations are aggravated by the fact that pesticides are generally persistent under anaerobic conditions. Therefore, it is of great interest to develop methods to create favourable conditions for biodegradation (steep concentration gradients/drastic redox changes to aerobic conditions/presence of catabolic potential) around water abstraction fields where e.g. even low oxygen concentrations may have significant impact on degradation. Besides this natural attenuation other remediation approaches will be investigated including filtering approaches. The majority of the work will be performed by fellow 15 (SV: H-J. Albrechtsen, DTU). Direct input and collaboration is foreseen with fellow 7 (HMGU) using CSIA to verify in situ degradation, fellows 2, 3 (GEUS) regarding heterogeneity and effects of low pesticide concentration, and fellow 13 (K.U.Leuven) regarding biofilm barriers. Access to monitoring data and field locations will be provided to fellow 15 by the Miljøcenter Odense (G. Larsen) who will in addition be involved in co-supervision of fellow 15 through at least 3 meetings over the whole training period.