Clogging and water quality studies (part 2) - Alice Springs Soil Aquifer Treatment

The research in this component focused on wastewater infiltration at a soil aquifer treatment (SAT) site with variable soil characteristics in five recharge basins overlying an alluvial aquifer; characterising key factors that affect clogging rates (i.e. length of drying and wetting cycles in the recharge basins, the quality of recharge water, vegetation and algal growth in the basins); comparing the hydraulic performance of the recharge basins using wastewater derived from different treatments; and determining changes in the quality of receiving groundwater from recharge operations at the SAT site. Raw data available included: soil and water chemistry, soil moisture, groundwater and pond levels, pond volumes\nLineage: CSIRO collected soil data (chemistry, moisture, microbiology) from 3 annual field trips carried out between 2012 - 2014. Geophysics surveys using NanoTem, resistivity and CDM was also carried out in 2013 and 2014. Power and Water Corporation provided all water quality and standing water level data (as collected by contractors). Plus extracted SCADA data for the monitoring periods and calculated pond levels, average infiltration rates and total volumes.