Understanding Geochemical Responses to Replenishing Perth’s Deep Aquifers

Join the IAH WA branch for our first talk of 2022, to be presented by Professor Henning Prommer of the University of Western Australia and CSIRO Land and Water.

Abstract: Groundwater replenishment of deep aquifers with highly treated, reclaimed wastewater has become an important means to secure Perth’s water future. This presentation will give an overview of the geochemical investigations that have accompanied the development of this water source over the last 20 years. The focus of the talk will be on the role that numerical modelling has played in assessing and managing the geochemical response to the injection of recycled water from early small-scale laboratory experiments, to the analysis of the Groundwater Replenishment Trial (GWRT), to the use of reactive transport modelling to assess injectant amendments that will minimise the risk of metal mobilisation.

About the speaker: Henning is a Winthrop Research Professor in a joint position between the University of Western Australia and CSIRO Land and Water. He has >25 years of experience in the development of reactive transport models and their application to a wide range of water quality issues in porous media, in particular the (i) quantification of redox processes and the associated fate of organic and inorganic pollutants at both the laboratory- and field-scale (ii) understanding and quantifying coupled transport and (bio)geochemical processes induced by managed aquifer recharge of deep aquifers and (iii) reactive transport processes associated with the in situ recovery of metals.

Please sign up via Eventbrite so we have an idea of numbers.

The talk will also be streamed via Teams for those unable to attend in person