Artificial Aquifer Research Articles

Developing a Decision-making Model to Enhance Artificial Aquifer Recharge Site Selection Through Floodwater Spreading Based on GIS and ELECTRE I

Developing a Decision-making Model to Enhance Artificial Aquifer Recharge Site Selection Through Floodwater Spreading Based on GIS and ELECTRE I

Optimal wastewater allocation with the development of an SECA multi-criteria decision-making method

The aim of this study is to develop a multi-objective decision-making method, named Simultaneous Evaluation of Criteria and Alternatives (SECA) for optimal ranking of wastewater allocation alternatives. This multi-objective decision-making method is for the continuous environment, meaning that experts can choose the best solution among the solutions obtained. The SECA multi-objective non-linear programming method has three objective functions: (i) maximization of the overall performance of alternatives, (ii) minimization of the deviation of criterion weights from reference point based on the within-criteria variation information, and (iii) minimization of the deviation of criterion weights based on the between-criteria variation information as well as two limitations for the weights of criteria. First, 15 criteria from different fields, including economic, socio-cultural, technological, and environmental, and six alternatives were determined for reusing wastewater, including reuse in the industrial sector, for recreational consumption, supplying environmental demand, artificial aquifer recharge, agricultural irrigation, and landscape irrigation. Then, decision-making matrix was constructed and reference points were calculated. By programming the SECA code in Lingo software and considering different β values, different weights for criteria and alternatives were ranked. In the other words, determining the best value for β was the most important step, so different values for β from 0.1 to 10 were examined. Results showed that in the value of β equal to 4, the maximum value of the objective function was obtained as 0.6926. Therefore, it was the best value for β and the weight of the effects on water resources criterion was equal to 0.0957 and was the most important criterion, and the allocation alternative in the environmental sector with a score of 0.8575 was the best wastewater allocation alternative. Followed by the environmental sector alternative, landscape irrigation, industrial sector, artificial aquifer recharge, agricultural irrigation, and recreational consumption were placed. Therefore, water supply for the environmental sector by considering the effect of wastewater on water resources is the best alternative for optimal allocation of wastewater.

GIS-based framework for artificial aquifer recharge to secure sustainable strategic water reserves in Qatar arid environment peninsula

This study proposes a large-scale artificial aquifer recharge plan to increase the strategic water reserve to cope with future emergencies. The main aim of the plan is to restore groundwater levels to those of the 1980s through artificial recharge. Desalinated water or highly treated municipal sewage effluent could be artificially recharged into the aquifer to recharge it. Potentiometric surface of aquifers and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis were used to assess change in the groundwater levels between 1980 and 2009. Zones that have experienced considerable decline in groundwater levels from their former “natural” status—when the aquifers were barely exploited, were identified. These zones are considered optimum recharge sites as they could provide ‘natural’ ground storage chosen by nature. Therefore, working with nature (not against it) by re-filling these natural spaces is the optimum approach. The artificial recharge of the main and principal upper aquifer in Qatar (Rus and Um er Radhuma) is targeted and recommended. It is estimated that up to 182.8 Million Cubic Meter (mcm) could be recharged and stored in these proposed zones, to increase the strategic water reserve of the country. This increase would sustain supplies of high quality for up to three months if consumption is maintained at the 2018 level. Moreover, this additional reserve could last for over one year, if emergency measures were put in place—in case of serious water-shortages, and disaster preparedness, for example by reducing the per capita consumption to the global average per capita consumption.

Aquatic Ecosystems of the Anthropocene: Limnology and Microbial Ecology of Mine Pit Lakes.

Mine pit lakes (‘pit lakes’) are new aquatic ecosystems of the Anthropocene. Potentially hundreds of meters deep, these lakes are prominent in the landscape and in the public consciousness. However, the ecology of pit lakes is underrepresented in the literature. The broad goal of this research was to determine the environmental drivers of pelagic microbe assemblages in Australian coal pit lakes. The overall experimental design was four lakes sampled three times, top and bottom, in 2019. Instrument chains were installed in lakes and measurements of in situ water quality and water samples for metals, metalloids, nutrients and microbe assemblage were collected. Lakes were monomictic and the timing of mixing was influenced by high rainfall events. Water quality and microbial assemblages varied significantly across space and time, and most taxa were rare. Lakes were moderately saline and circumneutral; Archeans were not prevalent. Richness also varied by catchment. Microbial assemblages correlated to environmental variables, and no one variable was consistently significant, spatially or temporally. Study lakes were dominated by ‘core’ taxa exhibiting temporal turnover likely driven by geography, water quality and interspecific competition, and the presence of water chemistry associated with an artificial aquifer likely influenced microbial community composition. Pit lakes are deceptively complex aquatic ecosystems that host equally complex pelagic microbial communities. This research established links between microbial assemblages and environmental variables in pit lakes and determined core communities; the first steps towards developing a monitoring program using microbes.

Identification of groundwater potential recharge zones using GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis: A case study of semi-arid midlands Manyara fractured aquifer, North-Eastern Tanzania

The extraction of groundwater has recently increased due to water scarcity as a result of human activities including agriculture, industrial and domestic use. This has accelerated the need to spatially identify groundwater potential zones for artificial aquifer recharge and extraction through boreholes drilling. The current study is aimed at identifying groundwater potential recharge zones (GPRZ) of semi-arid midlands Manyara fractured aquifer using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. The study area solely depends on groundwater for human survival through deep and shallow boreholes water extraction. Eight influencing factors including aquifer lithology, slopes, land use/land cover (LULC), soil types, drainage density, geological lineament density, flow accumulation, and topographic wetness index (TWI) were determined and reclassified on a scale of 1–5 in ArcGIS 10.6 environments. These factors were weighted with the help of AHP and integrated with ArcGIS pro based on the weighted linear combination (WLC) method. The results were scaled into five recharge potential classes; very high, high, moderate, low, and very low recharge potential zones. The results indicates that about 1607 km2 (14.7%) of the study area is under very high potential recharge zones, 3982 km2 (36.43%) falls under high recharge zones, 3120 km2 (28.55%) moderate, 1658 km2 (15.17%) low and 562 km2 (5.14%) under very low recharge zone. To assess the accuracy of the result a total of 66 boreholes collected from the field were used and the Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) curve generated. The area under the curve (AUC) was found to be 78% signifying moderate to higher accuracy of the model. The presented results provide an inventory of information for the land, water, environmental policy maker's authorities, and other stakeholders to enhancing groundwater resource management within semi-arid midlands Manyara basement fractured aquifer of the internal drainage basin North-Eastern Tanzania.

Stakeholder-based water allocation modelling and ecosystem services trade-off analysis: the case of El Carracillo region (Spain)

ABSTRACT Equitable water allocation in the context of local-scale water conflicts can be challenging. We present a holistic framework for the analysis of small-scale water disputes, contributing an integrated approach to the analysis of water conflicts by providing technical solutions combined with an in-depth analysis of social dynamics. The analysis focuses on an ongoing water conflict in El Carracillo region (Spain) related to an artificial aquifer recharge project. This case study involves two competing water users: horticultural farmers and ecosystem services provided by Cega River, from which water is diverted in order to recharge the aquifer. Based on a stakeholder analysis, a tool was developed to support participatory processes by facilitating mediation procedures. Preliminary results show solutions exist that account for ecosystem needs without causing major negative impacts on El Carracillo agriculture, and suggest the need for a re-negotiation of the existing rules governing water diversion from Cega River.

Artificial aquifer recharge and pumping: transient analytical solutions for hydraulic head and impact on streamflow rate based on the spatial superposition method

The behaviour of transient groundwater mounds in response to infiltration from surface basins has been studied for decades, but some common settings still lack analytical solutions. It has been shown that applying mathematical integration to the line-sink solution developed by Hantush in the 1960s for pumping an unconfined aquifer, considering recharge over the surface of a defined area, is identical to his solution for groundwater mounding below a rectangular basin. This implies that the superposition principle can, generally, be used to directly include pumping wells, as well as aquifer boundaries, to derive a unique solution. Moreover, other line-sink solutions can be used with a spatial superposition method for addressing a variety of hydrogeological settings, provided the behaviour of the relevant partial differential equations is linear. Based on this principle and on existing line-sink solutions, several analytical solutions are proposed that are able to consider a rectangular recharging area and a pumping well in an unconfined aquifer: (1) near a stream, (2) between a stream and a no-flow boundary, with and without the influence of natural recharge, (3) near a stream that partially penetrates an aquifer and (4) for a multi-layer aquifer. For cases including streams, transient solutions of the impact on streamflow rate are also presented. The proposed analytical solutions will be of practical use for managed aquifer recharge, in particular the design of structures for artificially recharging an aquifer, possibly pumped by one or several wells.

Corrosion Study on Wellbore Materials for the CO2 Injection Process

For reliability and safety issues of injection wells, corrosion resistance of materials used needs to be determined. Herein, representative low-cost materials, including carbon steel X70/1.8977 and low alloyed steel 1.7225, were embedded in mortar to mimic the realistic casing-mortar interface. Two types of cement were investigated: (1) Dyckerhoff Variodur commercial Portland cement, representing a highly acidic resistant cement and (2) Wollastonite, which can react with CO2 and become stable under a CO2 stream due to the carbonation process. Exposure tests were performed under 10 MPa and at 333 K in artificial aquifer fluid for up to 20 weeks, revealing crevice corrosion and uniform corrosion instead of expected pitting corrosion. To clarify the role of cement, simulated pore water was made by dispersing cement powder in aquifer fluid and used as a solution to expose steels. Surface analysis, accompanied by element mapping on exposed specimens and their cross-sections, was carried out to trace the chloride intrusion and corrosion process that followed.

Recovery Efficiency of an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Experiment from Saline Aquifer under Controlled Conditions

Present work was carried out in an experimental model developed at the institute, sand was used as prototype artificial aquifer and was saturated with highly saline water having Electrical Conductivity (EC) equal to 8500 µS/cm. Fresh water with average EC = 467.50 µS/cm and temperature = 25oC was injected in the known amount in the saline water and this water was extracted at a fixed time interval of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4, 8 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 hours in a cumulative time of 735.30 hours with average recovery efficiency of 63%. Recovered water has salinity equal to or less than 1000 µS/cm. Although, this experiment was carried out at a small scale but this can be tried at a bigger scale for skillfully managing the surface or reclaimed water in problematic areas where demand exceeds the supply.

Оценка условий фильтрации через земляные плотины при изменении их параметров с использованием программы Z_SOIL

Введение: В Арабской Республике Египет (АРЕ) использование земляных плотин для предотвращения риска затопления является повсеместным. Для всех земляных плотин водохранилищ характерна фильтрация воды через их насыпные дамбы, основания и примыкающие борта долины – создается искусственный водоносный горизонт. Количественная оценка данного процесса сама по себе является серьёзной гидрогеологической задачей, а также необходима для решения многих гидрологических и геоэкологических проблем. Методика: Использованная для численного решения задачи программа Z-SOIL реализована на основе метода конечных элементов. Программа предназначена для моделирования неустановившейся фильтрации с возможностью варьирования уровнями воды, размерами фильтрующего объекта и свойствами слагающих его грунтов. В начале исследования эксперимент по моделированию фильтрации и проницаемости грунта был проведен на физической модели плотины в лабораторных условиях. Затем проводилась калибровка численной геофильтрационной модели путем сравнения модельных и экспериментальных данных. И, наконец, оценивалось влияние изменения геометрии плотины на уровень воды в водохранилище. Результаты и обсуждение: Результаты численного моделирования хорошо согласуются с экспериментальными данными. Было получено, что по мере увеличения ширины гребня плотины и высоты основания уровни воды в водохранилище за счет фильтрации через плотину будут уменьшаться с максимальным изменением во времени до 0.3% и 0.26%, соответственно. Выводы: Используя степень насыщения горных пород и напоры на верхнем бьефе водохранилища в качестве переменных, модель Z-SOIL позволяет моделировать неустановившуюся фильтрацию через земляную плотину. Сравнение численных решений с экспериментальными результатами показывает, что описанный способ моделирования позволяет довольно точно имитировать изменения уровенной поверхности внутри плотины (насыпной дамбы) во времени в реальных условиях. Результаты хорошо согласуются с практикой эксплуатации песчаных плотин и позволяют осуществить предварительную оценку фильтрации через плотину и подбор параметров при строительстве.

Pit Lake and Drinking Water Intake: Example of Coexistence (Middle Urals, Russia)

The dewatering system of the Lipovsky nickel mining pit (Middle Urals, Russia) has performed a dual role. From 1961 to 1991, while nickel was being mined there, it protected the pit from flooding with groundwater; since 1989, it has been the principal source of drinking water for the town of Rezh (≈ 50,000 residents). After mining ceased, water withdrawal from the drainage wells decreased 2.5 times (to 100 L/s), resulting in a 120 m deep pit lake. A mass balance analysis has shown that water from the pit lake has become the leading source of water intake. However, the concentrations of the water’s basic constituents at the eastern edge of the pit are several times higher than at the western edge. The reason for the significant increase in the water withdrawn by the wells of the western intake is the fact, that during the working of the main ore body, the eastern part of the pit was filled with overburden rock and substandard ore with dispersed sulfide mineralization. Flooding of the pit created a single aquifer between the pit lake and the eastern water intake facility, including an artificial aquifer within the refilled part of the pit. The rise of the groundwater level in the artificial aquifer to an elevation above 150 m (after 1994) led to active chemical weathering of sulfide-containing minerals and dissolution of secondary sulfates, which accounts for the increasing levels of constituents in the eastern part of the pit. The artificial aquifer has become a generator of salts. The dumping of sulfidic wastes and subsequent recovery of the water table have led to the release of sulfate, calcium, and metals into the local groundwater. To prevent the formation of an artificial aquifer, it is necessary to either completely remediate the unflooded portion using non-acid generating material or completely inundate the pit. Partial remediation would be the worst scenario as it could destabilize the hydrogeochemical processes and render long-term coexistence of the drinking water intake and the flooded pit problematic.

Synergistic effects of microbial anaerobic dechlorination of perchloroethene and nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) – A lysimeter experiment

Perchloroethene (PCE) is a hazardous and persistent groundwater pollutant. Both treatment with nanoscaled zero-valent iron (nZVI) and biological degradation by bacteria have downsides. Distribution of nZVI underground is difficult and a high percentage of injected nZVI is consumed by anaerobic corrosion, forming H2 rather than being available for PCE dechlorination. On the other hand, microbial PCE degradation can suffer from the absence of H2. This can cause the accumulation of the hazardous metabolites cis-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE) or vinylchloride (VC). The combination of chemical and biological PCE degradation is a promising approach to overcome the disadvantages of each method alone. In this lysimeter study, artificial aquifers were created to test the influence of nZVI on anaerobic microbial PCE dechlorination by a commercially available culture containing Dehalococcoides spp. under field-like conditions. The effect of the combined treatment was investigated with molasses as an additional electron source and after cessation of molasses addition. The combination of nZVI and the Dehalococcoides spp. containing culture led to a PCE discharge in the lysimeter outflow that was 4.7 times smaller than that with nZVI and 1.6 times smaller than with bacterial treatment. Moreover, fully dechlorinated end-products showed an 11-fold increase compared to nZVI and a 4.2-fold increase compared to the microbial culture. The addition of nZVI to the microbial culture also decreased the accumulation of hazardous metabolites by 1.7 (cis-DCE) and 1.2 fold (VC). The stimulatory effect of nZVI on microbial degradation was most obvious after the addition of molasses was stopped.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Coupled with GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques for Delineating Suitable Artificial Aquifer Recharge Sites in Tafilalet Plain (Morocco)

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Coupled with GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques for Delineating Suitable Artificial Aquifer Recharge Sites in Tafilalet Plain (Morocco)

Study of Generation and Underground Flow of Acid Mine Drainage in Waste Rock Pile in an Uranium Mine Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography

Mineral exploration is often associated with the generation of environmental liabilities, whose potential damages might imperil local water quality. An example of these environmental impacts is the acid mine drainage—AMD, caused by sulfides oxidation and production of acid and saline effluents. The analysis of critical areas with generation and spread of contamination plumes becomes more feasible due to the possibility to obtain geophysical models of water systems, especially to identify regions with accumulation of reactive minerals and preferential water flows. The rock-waste pile named BF-04 fits in this context of contamination, and it was studied based on the Electrical Resistivity Tomography technique, inversion models and isosurface models, providing conditions to recognize sulfide zones (> 10.1 mV/V), whereas chaotic high salt content underground flows, along several depths, were identified by low resistivity zones (< 75.8 Ω m). The complex behavior of groundwater flow in this kind of artificial granular aquifer is caused by its granulometric and lithologic heterogeneities, and compacted material. In addition, the results reveled a substantial water infiltration from Consulta creek, however the most critic zones for AMD generation are located at shallow levels where the waste rock material is more exposed to atmospheric O2 and meteoric water infiltration. The bedrock was not associated with significant low resistivity anomalies, which means that its contribution to AMD generation was considered relatively less important. The results will contribute to the environmental remediation management and also to demonstrate the potential applicability of geophysical methods in mining wastes.

Sorption properties and behaviour at laboratory scale of selected pharmaceuticals using batch experiments

Despite the increasing public concern about the frequent occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the water bodies, their transport and fate are not yet well known; in particular in groundwater. In this laboratory study, batch experiments were conducted to investigate the sorption behaviour of selected pharmaceuticals. The choice of compounds was motivated by their chemical properties as well as by their occurrence at the relevant field sites. It included: antipyrine, atenolol, caffeine, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, diclofenac, ketoprofen, ofloxacin, and sulfamethoxazole. Sorption behaviour has already been investigated for some of these compounds (e.g. carbamazepine), but for the others (e.g. antipyrine, ketoprofen), extensive studies are missing so far. For the experiments, artificial and actual aquifer materials from complementary field sites were selected: technical coarse quartz sand and sediments from alluvial Vistrenque Aquifer, France (sandy loam), and fluvio-deltaic Baix Fluvià Aquifer, Spain (sandy clay loam, clay, and medium sand). In these field sites occurrence of pharmaceuticals in groundwater was previously stated, and the presented laboratory experiments were complementary to the field investigations. Five concentration steps for determining the sorption isotherms were investigated. Correlation analysis showed dependencies of K-coefficients of individual compounds and sediment properties; however, no clear, universal patterns for all compounds were found. Batch experiments suggest that sorption behaviour was governed by compound-specific properties rather than by sediment properties. These results contribute to the understanding sorption behaviour of pharmaceuticals in heterogeneous sediments, although some inconsistencies were revealed between laboratory scale results and field scale observations.

Use of closured open pit and underground coal mines for energy generation: Application to the Asturias Central Coal Basin (Spain)

The idea to reducing the dependency of nuclear and fossil energy sources has risen in Spain, then, the use of closured coal mines for energy generation is thus in the political interest, and by 2020 it is intended that the country produces 20% of its energy from renewable sources, therefore replacing the energy based on fossil fuels. New studies on the framework of a circular economy have led to found new possibilities for closured coal mines in historical mine districts and mine water can be considered as a potential resource, converting mining exploitations into storage and production facilities of renewable energy and generating new economic activities in the mining regions. Abandoned and flooded mines constitute artificial karst type aquifers, and these created underground reservoirs can be economically managed to supply geothermal energy to villages around the shafts. This potential application of mine water, profitable in both economic and environmental terms, could contribute to improve economic and social conditions of traditional mining areas in gradual decline. On the other hand, the restored lands can be used for the production of biofuels through repopulation with fast-growing energy crops and high planting densities. This paper analyses the uses of mine water for energy generation both as geothermal resource and through pumped storage between an underground and a surface reservoir, furthermore the supply of productive restoration for biomass production in closured coal open pits is considered, in relation to their potential application to the closured coal mines from the Asturias Central Coal basin in Northern Spain.

The aquifer recharge: an overview of the legislative and planning aspect.

In most regions of the world, safeguarding groundwater resources is a serious issue, particularly in coastal areas where groundwater is the main water source for drinking, irrigation and industry. Water availability depends on climate, topography and geology. The aim of this paper is to evaluate aquifer recharge as a possible strategy to relieve water resource scarcity. Natural aquifer recharge is defined as the downward flow of water reaching the water table, increasing the groundwater reservoir. Hydro-meteorological factors (rainfall, evapotranspiration and runoff) may alter natural recharge processes. Artificial aquifer recharge is a process by which surface water is introduced with artificial systems underground to fill an aquifer. As a consequence of global warming that has increased the frequency and severity of natural disasters like the drought, the impacts of climate change and seasonality, the artificial recharge has been considered as a viable option. Different direct and indirect techniques can be used, and the choice depends on the hydrologic characteristics of a specific area. In Italy, Legislative Decree no. 152/06 plans artificial aquifer recharge as an additional measure in water management, and Decree no. 100/2016 establishes quantitative and qualitative conditions for recharge. Many projects examine aquifer recharge, such us WADIS-MAR in the southern Mediterranean region, WARBO in Italy and municipal wastewater treatment project in Apulia, a southern Italian region. However, aside from groundwater recharge, the community must foster a spirit of cooperation to manage groundwater as a sustainable resource.

Impacts of urban areas and urban growth on groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin of North America

The Great Lakes Basin (GLB) holds vast reserves of groundwater, the great majority of which eventually drains to the lakes. Urban growth significantly affects both the quality and quantity of this groundwater and thereby represents a potential threat to the long-term viability of the Great Lakes hydrologic system. Urban areas import, manufacture, store, transport, and utilise large volumes of chemicals, a proportion of which inevitably finds its way to the shallow sub-surface. In many cases, potentially polluting chemicals are applied directly to urban surfaces (e.g. as road salts, fertilizers and pesticides), are stored in the subsurface (e.g. gasoline tanks) or are released to the subsurface (e.g. septic systems). Because most of the basin's larger urban areas rely almost exclusively on lake-based supplies, very little attention is given to the accumulation of contaminants in shallow urban groundwaters and the serious risks they pose. Assessment of the problem is complicated by the widespread use of urban fill and a complex network of drains, pipes and tunnels that create “urban karst”, a shallow artificial aquifer, unique to urban settings, that exerts a major, yet often unpredictable influence on groundwater flow and contaminant transport. Management of ground water pollution, and its impact on the receiving Great Lakes, will require rigorous audits of all urban sources of contamination together with the development and calibration of groundwater flow and transport models that will enable the fate of urban pollutants to be reliably predicted even when groundwater is not used for supply.

Accounting for the Decreasing Reaction Potential of Heterogeneous Aquifers in a Stochastic Framework of Aquifer‐Scale Reactive Transport

AbstractMany groundwater contaminants react with components of the aquifer matrix, causing a depletion of the aquifer's reactivity with time. We discuss conceptual simplifications of reactive transport that allow the implementation of a decreasing reaction potential in reactive‐transport simulations in chemically and hydraulically heterogeneous aquifers without relying on a fully explicit description. We replace spatial coordinates by travel‐times and use the concept of relative reactivity, which represents the reaction‐partner supply from the matrix relative to a reference. Microorganisms facilitating the reactions are not explicitly modeled. Solute mixing is neglected. Streamlines, obtained by particle tracking, are discretized in travel‐time increments with variable content of reaction partners in the matrix. As exemplary reactive system, we consider aerobic respiration and denitrification with simplified reaction equations: Dissolved oxygen undergoes conditional zero‐order decay, nitrate follows first‐order decay, which is inhibited in the presence of dissolved oxygen. Both reactions deplete the bioavailable organic carbon of the matrix, which in turn determines the relative reactivity. These simplifications reduce the computational effort, facilitating stochastic simulations of reactive transport on the aquifer scale. In a one‐dimensional test case with a more detailed description of the reactions, we derive a potential relationship between the bioavailable organic‐carbon content and the relative reactivity. In a three‐dimensional steady‐state test case, we use the simplified model to calculate the decreasing denitrification potential of an artificial aquifer over 200 years in an ensemble of 200 members. We demonstrate that the uncertainty in predicting the nitrate breakthrough in a heterogeneous aquifer decreases with increasing scale of observation.

Passive Residential Houses with the Accumulation Properties of Ground as a Heat Storage Medium

Solar radiation is the primary source of life energy on Earth. The irradiance of the upper atmosphere is about 1360 W/m2, and it is estimated that about 1000 W/m2 reaches the ground. Long-term storage of heat energy is related to the use of a suitable thermal energy carrier. It may be either artificial or natural water tank, or artificial gravel-water tank, or aquifer or soil. It is justified to store the generated energy in large heating systems due to the nature of solar thermal energy. Typically, in such a solution storage space is a large solar collector farm. The reason for this is the proportionally small unit profits, which only in the case of large number of units provides sufficient energy that can be accumulated. It should be noted that Poland, a country located in a temperate and less harsh climate such as Scandinavia and Canada, has a relatively high potential for solar revenue. In the last decade, it has caused mainly small and individual heating installations. However, much of the municipal and industrial economy continues to rely on energy from non-renewable resources. This is due not only to the lack of a high-efficiency alternative to non-renewable energy resources, but also to the thermal state of buildings throughout the country, where old buildings require thermomodernization. This has the effect of both polluting the environment and the occurrence of smog, as well as pollutants in water and soil. This directly affects the occurrence of civilization diseases and other societal health problems. Therefore, the surplus of thermal clean energy that occurs during the spring and summer period should not only be used on a regular basis, but also stored for later winter use. The paper presents the concept of housing estate, which consists of 32 twin housing units. The solid character of buildings consistently refers to passive construction, and the materials meet the requirements for the passive buildings.