River-aquifer interaction during floods - Consequences of pollutant transport in aquifer

The present work studies the effects on the pollutant transport in an aquifer of a flood passage in a river that under normal conditions drains the same aquifer. Assuming that the river is the source of the pollution, the temporary inversion of the filtration motion caused by the flood could enable the entrance of pollution into the aquifer, which is therefore vulnerable in such a situation despite the fact that it is normally protected from the river. This work presents the equation systems which describe the phenomenon, then proposes a numerical scheme which simulates it, and finally, by means of some examples, highlights the engineering and environmental aspects of the problem, indicating the principal characteristics.