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PhD Thesis Title: Coastal aquifer monitoring and management in cases of alternating seasonal pumping and recharging.

Abstract: Coastal aquifers are important reservoirs of fresh water for coastal areas, especially for those with increased tourist interest during the summer months. Taking into account the temporal distribution of rainfalls in Greece, such aquifers are characterised by intense pumping and recharging periods, which alternate seasonally.

Specifying suitable locations for the construction of pumping wells and adjusting their pumping schedule, in order to address the water demand without causing ground water levels to drop below acceptable limits or induce the saltwater intrusion, are typical coastal aquifer management issues.

In the present study, two additional aspects of the aforementioned issues are examined:
(1) The development of monitoring methods which will allow for the estimation of temporal variations of the saltwater wedge (position of the toe and saltwater – freshwater interface) and ground water levels.
(2) The investigation of the suitability and effectiveness of cut-off-wall constructions (subsurface dams) near the coastline, a technique which has been proposed for the protection of coastal aquifers against saltwater intrusion.

For the present study numerical simulations are being curried out for (a) a variety of coastal aquifer models built to address a wider field of applications and (b) the case of Glafkos river coastal aquifer, the most important groundwater reservoir for the city of Patras, where field data are available and field measurements are being curried out.