This project contributes to the Science Component of the St. Johns River Water Management District Springs Protection Initiative (SPI) http://www.sjrwmd.com/springs/initiative.html. The partnership is called the “Collaborative Research Initiative on Sustainability and Protection of Springs,” or CRISPS. While the overall goal of the SPI is to acknowledge that effective management of springs requires that understanding of the relative influences and manageability of the numerous natural and anthropogenic forcings that affect their ecological health, the objectives of this portion of research are as follows:
- Determine whether the contributions of conduit flow processes to water and solute delivery to springs can be captured using “effective” statistical conduit properties, or whether actual spatial configurations of the conduit system are important.
- Determine the relative importance of local-scale conduit/porous media properties versus large-scale springshed boundary/confinement characteristics for predicting locations of highest risk for contamination of the spring vent from surface activities.
- Determine whether it is feasible for the District to develop a calibrate model for the Silver Springshed that incorporates conduits and fractures, and whether it is important to do so in order to effectively manage the quality and quantity of water flowing from Silver Springs.
The purpose of this project is to incorporate representative realizations of conduits and fractures into the local-scale Silver Springshed equivalent porous media model to systematically explore the relative importance of conduit/fracture geometry and porous matrix properties on predicting the sources, fluxes, travel paths and travel times of water and solutes to Silver Springs. For more information regarding the SPI project, visit: http://www.sjrwmd.com/springs/investigation.html |
