You are to make some calculations about the movement of groundwater and pollutants in an aquifer.The aquifer is a sandy loam with an estimated hydraulic conductivity of 3 x 10^-3 cm/s, a bulk density of10 âˆ'3 1.5 kg/L, and an organic carbon fraction of 0.001. A tracer study was conducted to assess groundwater velocity and showed that a slug of a conservative tracer took 34 days to travel the 10-m distance between two wells.
(a) Calculate the groundwater velocity.
(b) Calculate the Darcy velocity.
(c) What is the hydraulic gradient?
(d) If the groundwater is contaminated with methyl tert-buytl (MTBE- a gasoline additive), estimate the time in days it would take the MTBE to travel the 10 m.
(e) If the groundwater was also contaminated with atrazine, would the atrazine reach the river before, after, or about the same time as the MTBE? Why?