Optimal characterization of pollutant sources in contaminated aquifers by integrating sequential-monitoring-network design and source identification: methodology and an application in Australia

Often, when pollution is first detected in groundwater, very few spatiotemporal pollutant concentration measurements are available. The contaminant concentration measurement data initially available are generally sparse and insufficient for accurate source characterization. This requires development of a contaminant monitoring plan and its field implementation to collect more data. The location of scientifically chosen monitoring points and the number of measurements are important considerations in improving the source-characterization process, especially in a complex contamination scenario. In order to improve the efficiency of source characterization, a feedback-based methodology is implemented, integrating sequential-monitoring-network design and a source identification method. The simulated annealing (SA) optimization algorithm is used to solve the models for optimal source identification and the monitoring-network-design optimization. This sequence is repeated a few times to improve the accuracy of source characterization. The methodology is based on the premise that concentration measurements from a sequence of implemented monitoring networks provide feedback information on the actual concentration in the site. This additional information, obtained as feedback from monitoring networks designed and implemented based on intermediate source characterization, can result in sequential improvement in the resulting source characterization. The performance of this methodology is evaluated by application to a contaminated aquifer site in New South Wales, Australia, where source location, source-activity initiation time and source-flux (mass per unit time) release history are considered as unknown variables. The performance evaluation results demonstrate potential applicability of the proposed sequential methodology.