Calculating the quality of drainage water from non-homogeneous soil profiles with an extension to an unsaturated-saturated groundwater quality model including bypass flow

Abstract

Based on the mass balance equation, a pseudo-analytical solution for the chemical concentration in drainage water from a soil profile is given. The effects of linear adsorption, decomposition and plant water uptake as well as the water content and layer thickness may be specified separately for each layer. The phenomenon of bypass flow can also be taken into account. From the obtained relationship between the concentration of solute in the drainage water leaving the soil profile and the time, a coupling between the unsaturated and the saturated zone can be achieved as was described earlier. This leads to breakthrough curves of the solute leaving the combined system of unsaturated and saturated zones. Time-dependent input concentrations can easily be incorporated through the systems approach. The computer programs (written for an HP41CV pocket calculator), describing the quality of drainage water from non-homogeneous profiles and the breakthrough of a solute leaving the combined system, are given as an appendix.