Study and Prediction of Bacterial and Viral Contamination of Groundwater from Landfills and Septic Tank Systems

摘要

To serve as a tool in the long term evaluation of the risk of accumulation of microbial contaminants (bacteria and viruses) entering soil and groundwater, a mathematical model is developed to predict the spatial and temporal distribution of pollutant concentration. The governing equation for bacterial transport is coupled with another transport equation for the bacterial nutrient present in the seeping wastewater. The deposition and declogging mechanisms are incorporated into the model as a rate process for bacteria and as an equilibrium partitioning for viruses. A simplified set of equations is solved analytically to test the numerical results. Cases studied include a soil column and a horizontal two-dimensional field coupled with the one dimensional solution. It has been found that the bacteria is removed almost totally within the top 7 cm of soil with minimal risk of clogging.