Analysis of travel time, sources of water and well protection zones with groundwater models

This study compares numerical models with analytical solutions in computing travel times and radius of protection zones for a pumping well located in an unconfined aquifer with uniform recharge and in a semi-confined aquifer. Numerical models were capable of delineating protection zones using particle tracking method in both cases. However, protection zones defined by travel time criterion can only protect small percent of source water to the well; large percent of source water is not protected which may pose a risk of pollution of source water to the well. The case study of Leggeloo well field in the Netherlands indicates that although a well field protection area was enforced in 1980s, elevated nitrate concentration has been monitored in the abstracted water since 1990s. The analysis of protection areas shows that the current protection area only protects 37.4% of recharge water to the well field. A large protection area must be adopted in order to safeguard the sustainable water supply for the local community