Abstract
Seawater intrusion (SWI) is one of the most challenging and widespread environmental problems that threaten the quality and sustainability of fresh groundwater resources in coastal aquifers. The excessive pumping of groundwater, associated with the lack of natural recharge, has exacerbated the SWI problem in arid and semi-arid regions. Therefore, appropriate management strategies should be implemented in coastal aquifers to control the impacts of SWI problems, considering acceptable limits of economic and environmental costs. The management of coastal aquifers involves the identification of an acceptable ultimate landward extent of the saline water body and the calculation of the amount of seaward discharge of freshwater that is necessary to keep the saline–freshwater interface in a seacoast position. This paper presents a comprehensive review of available hydraulic and physical management strategies that can be used to reduce and control SWI in coastal aquifers. Advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches are presented and discussed.
Highlights
Under natural conditions, there is a continuous interaction between surface and subsurface water bodies
By re-injecting part of the freshwater into the coastal aquifer, the net extraction rate of freshwater from the production well was increased up to 50% compared with cases without the injection well, while at the same time mitigating against the Seawater intrusion (SWI) problem
This paper presented a comprehensive review of the common methods that can be used to control and mitigate SWI in coastal aquifers
Summary
There is a continuous interaction between surface and subsurface water bodies. Banks and Richter [5], Bruington [6], Todd [7], van Dam [2], Sherif and Hamza [8], Pool and Carrera [9] and Kallioras et al [10] listed different methodologies that have attempted to control SWI in coastal aquifers. These methods include reduction of pumping rates, relocation of pumping wells, use of physical surface or subsurface barriers, natural or artificial recharge (pressure or positive barriers), pumping of saline water along the seacoast (abstraction or negative barriers), and combination techniques (mixed barriers). (ii) physical barriers, and (iii) hydraulic barriers, as detailed
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