Abstract
By considering the input/output of hydrogen ion with respect to the aquifer, including nonconservative transport through the use of the retardation factor, the effect of a delay in the arrival of acid to the lake is demonstrated. A two-dimensional, finite difference flow and random walk transport model, neglecting dispersion, was used to simulate the migration of the acid water through the ground water system. Also, the temporal changes in lake pH were examined by modeling the lake with both a lumped parameter model and an equilibrium chemistry model. Thus, the lake model mixes inflow from the ground water to the lake, precipitation on lake surface, and lake water, with the consideration of equilibrium chemical reactions. From their work they concluded that ground water inflow can mitigate the effect of acid deposition on lake watersheds, as well as the fact that the low ionic strength of the lakes was an important buffer. The scope of this comment is confined only to the issue of modeling the buffering capability of the aquifer. The purpose is to show that an alternate and simpler formulation for the ground water model is also appropriate for the case study.
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