Use of the TETrans Model in Predicting ET Effects on Groundwater Quality

by Dennis L. Corwin, U.S. Salinity Lab, Riverside, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Irrigation and Drainage: Saving a Threatened Resource?In Search of Solutions

Abstract:

Recently Corwin and Waggoner (1991) developed a contaminant transport software package referred to as TETrans, (acronym for Trace Element Transport). TETrans is a useful preliminary assessment tool for easily determining the influence of various transport processes upon the distribution of solutes through the rootzone and upon solute-loading to the groundwater. Specifically, the effect of evapotranspiration (ET) upon solute-loading to the groundwater is assessed using TETrans. Simulations of chloride and boron movement are presented using soil column data from a weighing lysimeter experiment (Corwin et al., 1991 and 1992). The simulations indicate that factors related to ET (i.e., maximum root penetration depth and root water uptake distribution) have a definite affect upon groundwater quality. As the maximum root penetration depth increases, the total amount of solute leaving the rootzone and potentially entering the groundwater, increases. As the root water uptake distribution becomes more uniform with depth, greater amounts of solute pass beyond the rootzone and potentially into the groundwater.

Subject Headings: Vegetation | Groundwater quality | Water quality | Groundwater pollution | Water supply systems | Water pollution | Computer models

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