LSU Hydrogeologist Assists with Jordan's Water Issues

Dr. Bill Blanford from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at LSU is leading an international collaboration to evaluate the performance of riverbank filtration (RBF) as a practical and inexpensive initial treatment of river water such as Zarqa River.   Farmers in Jordan are extracting water directly from the Zarqa River to irrigate their crops, feed their goats, and for personal consumption.  But, the water within this river is heavily polluted with pathogens from partially treated effluent from the capital city of Amman and process waters from an oil refinery upriver.This project funded by NATO’s Science for Peace Program will examine the ability of RBF systems to lower the overall contaminant levels and increase the resistance against rapid fluctuations in water quality from intentional or unintentional releases of pathogenic, chemical, or radiological agents. Collaborators in this NATO grant include: J. Abu-Ashour, I. Saadoun, Z. Al-Ghazawi, M. Shawaqfah, J. AL-Rashdan, J. Schijven, T. Boving.

RBF is a technique where groundwater is withdrawn from wells near rivers. In RBF systems, contaminants are removed from the raw surface waters as they pass through the soil beneath the river or from other surface water bodies through the riverbank to groundwater wells located near the river (approximately 50 m). Aquifers near streams are often highly permeable and the depth to groundwater is relatively shallow. These attributes make shallow wells located near rivers relatively cheap to install and highly productive. Water withdrawn from RBF wells is less contaminated and less prone to contamination than surface water resources and RBF systems are less expensive and more productive than alternative groundwater systems.

In this project two RBF systems will be installed and operated for 2.5 years. Assisting in the maintenance and gathering data on performance the RBF pilot demonstration system are two farming families within Jordan.  The picture below is at the conclusion of a planning meeting with one of the families.  The data being collected during the study, includes monitoring for changes in aquifer permeability, pathogen removal rates, and trends in groundwater geochemistry.  The results of the field study will be utilized to develop and evaluate the performance of groundwater flow and contaminant transport computer models for RBF systems in this setting.  If RBF systems are shown to be successful then the Water Authority of Jordan will use these models and the experience gained from operating the pilot RBF systems to design and operate a system of RBF wells to supply the needs of farmers in the Zarqa River valley.