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Regional Groundwater Modelling for Flow Analysis and Investigation of Alternative Water Resources in the Edmonton Region, Alberta, Canada
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- Author / Creator
- Kehler, Marcus H
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Water resources in the Edmonton region are expected to be increasingly threatened by climate change and/or contamination in the coming decades. Currently, the sole source of water for the city of Edmonton is the North Saskatchewan River (NSR). This makes Edmonton vulnerable to changes in water supply from drought or contamination. A potential temporary secondary water source is groundwater. The groundwater resource in the Edmonton region with the most favourable prospects for large scale water withdrawal is buried valleys (channels). A steady state groundwater model is used to understand regional groundwater flow and the role of buried valleys in groundwater flow in the region. It includes dipping bedrock geology and surficial geology together with recently mapped buried valley extents. Findings help to characterize groundwater flow in the area, highlighting flow system features such as discharge areas, groundwater-surface water interactions and buried valley’s role in a regional flow context. The steady state model also provides a starting point for transient simulations. Transient simulations focus on the Onoway, Beverly and Stony channels. Results indicate the Beverly channel is the most favourable for large scale water extraction followed by the Onoway and the Stony channels respectively. The Beverly channel was able to supply 190 ML/day for 365 days, followed by the Onoway channel at 190 ML/day for 30 days, with the smallest extraction rate sustained by the Stony channel at 10 ML/day for 365 days.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2022
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.