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This paper presents an overview assessment of the effectiveness and popularity of some methods adopted in measuring river bank filtration (RBF). The review is aim at understanding some of the appropriate methods used in measuring riverbank filtration, their frequencies of use, and their spatial applications worldwide. The most commonly used methods and techniques in riverbank filtration studies are: Geographical Information System (GIS) ( site suitability/surface characterization ), Geophysical, Pumping Test and borehole logging (sub-surface ), Hydrochemical, Geochemical, and Statistical techniques ( hydrochemistry of water ), Numerical modelling, Tracer techniques and Stable Isotope Approaches ( degradation and contaminants attenuation processes ). From the summary in Table 1, hydrochemical, numerical modelling and pumping test are the frequently used and popular methods, while geophysical, GIS and statistical techniques are the less attractive. However, many researchers prefer integrated approach especially that riverbank filtration studies involve diverse and interrelated components. In term of spatial popularity and successful implementation of riverbank filtration, it is explicitly clear that the popularity and success of the technology is more pronounced in developed countries like U.S. and most European countries. However, it is gradually gaining ground in Asia and Africa, although it is not far from its infancy state in Africa, where the technology could be more important considering the economic status of the region and its peculiarity when it comes to water resources predicaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stream depletion rate (SDR) is computed for a radial collector well installed in a semi-infinite, anisotropic, homogeneous, unconfined aquifer near a fully penetrating stream with a streambed with reduced conductivity. For small pumping rates dimensional analysis and other arguments allow the SDR to be expressed as a function of eight parameters that describe the effect of properties of the aquifer and streambed as well as the configuration and placement of the well. The calculations employ some results from Huang et al. (2012, J. Hydrol .), who expressed the SDR as a quintuple integral, but by computing four of the integrals analytically, the present solution requires less computational effort. Analytical calculation shows that the SDR in steady state does not depend on the streambed properties (or any other parameters): Given enough time, the flow through the streambed will equal the pumping rate of the well. Values of SDR are supported by comparing to previous solutions for special cases corresponding to appropriate limiting values of the parameters. Effects of the eight dimensionless parameters are studied systematically: The properties of the streambed, anisotropy of the aquifer, and the position of the well affect the SDR more strongly than the orientation, length, and depth of the laterals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riverbank filtration (RBF) for water supplies is used widely throughout the world because it guarantees a sustainable quantity and improves water quality. In this study, the development history and the technical overview of RBF in China are reviewed and summarized. Most RBF systems in China were constructed using vertical wells, horizontal wells, and infiltration galleries in flood plains, alluvial fans, and intermountain basins. Typical pollutants such as NH 4 + , pathogens, metals, and organic materials were removed or diluted by most RBF investigated. There have recently been many investigations of the interaction between groundwater and surface water and biogeochemical processes in RBF. Comprehensive RBF applications should include not only the positive but also negative effects. Based on a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages, the perspectives of China’s RBF technology development were proposed. To protect the security of water supply, China’s RBF systems should establish a management system, monitoring system and forecasting system of risk. Guidelines of RBF construction and management should also be issued on the basic of relevant fundamental investigations such as climate influence, clogging, and purification mechanism of water-quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary In place of direct pumping, river bank filtration (RBF) is increasingly being used for collecting surface water for municipal supplies. However, as each site is different, every such scheme needs evaluation and adds to our knowledge about RBF. This work aimed at evaluating the efficacy of a well commissioned in May 2010 on the bank of River Alaknanda in Srinagar (Uttarakhand), India. The well water was monitored for coliform removal and mineral content with reference to the river and surrounding groundwater since the construction of the well. Study showed that the well water is much better in terms of bacteriological quality and turbidity, but is highly mineralized with respect to the river water. The ionic concentrations in the well water were comparable to the groundwater in the region. Stable isotope δ 2 H and δ 18 O values, however, showed that the well water is predominantly river bank filtrate. In addition, the water from the well has been containing unusually high concentrations of nitrate (53–138 mg/L)—much higher than permissible limit for drinking water supply while the river water had much lower concentrations (0.3–4.2 mg/L). Investigations were conducted on groundwater, wastewaters, soils, and rocks in the area to identify the source of excess nitrate. The results suggest the occurrence of phyllite and quartzite bedrocks as the origin of nitrate. These findings underline the need for extensive hydrogeochemical studies before designing a RBF scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary An experimental field study was performed to investigate riverbed clogging processes and associated monitoring approaches near a dam-controlled riverbank filtration facility in Northern California. Motivated by previous studies at the site that indicated riverbed clogging plays an important role in the performance of the riverbank filtration system, we investigated the spatiotemporal variability and nature of the clogging. In particular, we investigated whether the clogging was due to abiotic or biotic mechanisms. A secondary aspect of the study was the testing of different methods to monitor riverbed clogging and related processes, such as seepage. Monitoring was conducted using both point-based approaches and spatially extensive geophysical approaches, including: grain-size analysis, temperature sensing, electrical resistivity tomography, seepage meters, microbial analysis, and cryocoring, along two transects. The point monitoring measurements suggested a substantial increase in riverbed biomass (2 orders of magnitude) after the dam was raised compared to the small increase (∼2%) in fine-grained sediment. These changes were concomitant with decreased seepage. The decreased seepage eventually led to the development of an unsaturated zone beneath the riverbed, which further decreased infiltration capacity. Comparison of our time-lapse grain-size and biomass datasets suggested that biotic processes played a greater role in clogging than did abiotic processes. Cryocoring and autonomous temperature loggers were most useful for locally monitoring clogging agents, while electrical resistivity data were useful for interpreting the spatial extent of a pumping-induced unsaturated zone that developed beneath the riverbed after riverbed clogging was initiated. The improved understanding of spatiotemporally variable riverbed clogging and monitoring approaches is expected to be useful for optimizing the riverbank filtration system operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The effects of riverbank restoration on the groundwater quality (DOC) were analyzed. [•] Simulations during floods show enhanced DOC in groundwater due to restoration. [•] 51–84 of increase in DOC were due to an increased submerged area of the riverbank. [•] The remaining part was due to a larger hydraulic conductivity of the riverbank. [•] The effect was stronger, if DOC at the river boundary varied during the flood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We present a new model to predict oxygen (DO) consumption upon riverbank filtration. [•] The DO consumption rate is allowed to depend on river temperature and discharge. [•] The temperature dependence was found to be more important on a seasonal time scale. [•] Consumption rate increased by a factor of 4 within the narrow window of 20–50m3/s. [•] The model successfully reproduced the observed dynamics in DO consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Riverbank filtration (RBF) is a mechanism by which undesired substances contained in infiltrating surface waters are attenuated during their passage across the riverbed and its underlying aquifer towards production wells. In this study, multi-component reactive transport modeling was used to analyze the biogeochemical processes that occur during subsurface passage at an existing RBF system – the Flehe Waterworks located along the Rhine River in Düsseldorf, Germany. The reactive transport model was established on the base of a conservative solute transport model for which temperature and chloride data served as calibration constraints. The model results showed that seasonal temperature changes superimposed by changes in residence time strongly affected the extent of the redox reactions along the flow path. The observed temporal, especially seasonal, changes in the breakthrough of dissolved oxygen were found to be best reproduced by the model when the temperature dependency of the biogeochemical processes was explicitly considered. High floods in the Rhine drastically reduced the travel time to the RBF well from an average travel time of 25–40days to less than 8days. On the other hand, low flow conditions increased the subsurface residence times between the Rhine River and the RBF well to about 60days. The model results revealed that short term changes in the terminal electron acceptor consumption (biodegrdation extent) were solely attributed to fluctuations in residence time, while more gradual changes in biodegradation extent were due to both seasonal variations of the river water temperature and gradual changes in residence time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Understanding the impact of storm events on riverbed hydraulic conductivity is crucial in assessing the efficacy of riverbank filtration as a water-treatment option. In this study, the variability of riverbed hydraulic conductivity and its correlation to river stage during storm events was investigated. Water levels and temperatures were continuously monitored in the river using creek piezometers screened beneath the riverbed, and monitoring wells located on the river bank. The range of values for water levels during the study period was from 161.3 to 163.7m AMSL while temperatures ranged from 3.75°C to 24°C. During the duration of the study the Great Miami River was losing water to the underlying aquifer due to pumping in the adjacent municipal well field. Flow and heat transport were simulated in a groundwater heat and flow program VSH2D to determine the hydraulic conductivity of the riverbed. Hydraulic conductivity was estimated by using it as a calibration parameter to match simulated temperatures to observed temperatures in a monitoring well. Hydraulic heads in the aquifer responded to storm events at the same times but with dampened amplitudes compared to the river stage. The relative responses resulted in increased head gradients during the rising limb of the stage-hydrograph. Heat-flow modeling during five storm events demonstrated that a rise in head gradient alone was not sufficient to produce the temperature changes observed in the wells. Simulated temperatures were fitted to the observed data by varying both river stage (as measured in the field) and riverbed hydraulic conductivity. To produce the best fit temperatures, riverbed hydraulic conductivity consistently needed to be increased during the rising and peak stages of the storm events. The increased conductivity probably corresponds to a loss of fine sediments due to scour during high river stage. Hydraulic conductivity increases during storm events varied from a factor of two (0.0951–0.2195m/d) to almost one order of magnitude (0.0007–0.00658m/d). Despite these predicted changes the highest model-predicted hydraulic conductivity value was 0.66m/d, which is still much lower than the infiltration rate used in sand filtration systems (3.59m/d). These low values suggest that storm events do not pose a significant risk to the water quality at this well field. There was a direct correlation between the duration of rising limb, rate of change of stage and maximum river stage and the magnitude of change of riverbed hydraulic conductivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The riverbank filtration technique was initiated in the Republic of Korea in the early 2000s as an additional source of drinking water in preference of usual surface water. In this study, water level, chemical composition, stable isotopes, time series, and factor analyses were used to characterize riverbank-filtered water and river water qualities at a riverbank filtration site in the Daesan-Myeon area (the first riverbank filtration site in the Republic of Korea) adjacent to the Nakdong River. For this study, the riverbank-filtered water and the river water were analyzed in both the field and the laboratory. The inorganic chemical components in the riverbank-filtered water and the river water differed significantly. Based on time series and factor analyses, the nitrate and turbidity concentrations were lower in the riverbank-filtered water than in the river water. The susceptibility to contamination of the riverbank-filtered water was lower than that of the river water. However, the groundwater level rapidly responded to the river level, and this finding was consistent with the irregular variation of the river level due to precipitation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Alluvial aquifers are largely used as groundwater resource since large flow rates can be obtained due to infiltration from the neighboring river. Reductive conditions in the infiltration flow path, caused by the degradation of organic matter, can induce effects detrimental to water quality, such as dissolution of Mn and Fe from the aquifer sediments. In the absence of any direct relationship between the redox potential (Eh) and reductive conditions favorable to manganese and/or iron reduction, we propose a quantitative approach, the electron trapping capacity (ETC). It is calculated using dissolved O2 and NO3 concentrations in groundwater, weighted for the quantity of electrons these two species can trap during the oxidation of organic matter. This approach, tested on several field and laboratory investigations, indicates that reductive dissolution of manganese and iron oxyhydroxides occurs for an ETC lower than 0.2mmolL−1. Exceptions to that threshold value are observed when Mn-rich groundwater flows too fast out of a reduced zone into an oxidizing environment to permit equilibrium precipitation of Mn oxyhydroxides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Riverbed clogging is an important issue related to the sustainable exploitation of riverbank filtration well fields. In this research, several complementary field techniques are employed to assess the current state and possible evolution of riverbed clogging at a site in the Saint John River, New Brunswick. The study is conducted in regions of the riverbed that have previously been identified as allowing recharge to the semi-confined aquifer that has been used since 1955 to supply water to the City of Fredericton. Flow velocity measurements, video imaging, and suspended sediment and bed sediment analyses conducted during the low flow (summer) period indicate that part of the recharge area closest to the well field, about 20% of the total area, is affected by bed armoring with cobbles and boulders. Consistent with previous studies, with increasing distance from the riverbank the sediment size decreases and the armor layer disappears. Previous research indicates that turbulent impacting of fine particles into the voids between the cobbles and boulders of the armor layer may reduce infiltration by up to 95%; however, the suspended sediment load in the river is mainly composed of organic matter, and the measured concentrations of suspended sediment (up to 3mg/L) are not considered high enough to create such large reductions in infiltration. Additionally, the mineral fraction of the suspended sediment would not be expected to settle under the calculated average shear velocity of 0.012m/s. Other sources of particulate matter, such as the degradation of aquatic vegetation on the riverbed, may be more significant with respect to riverbed clogging; however, annual peak flows may also create bed shear stresses that serve to limit long-term clogging effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In riverbank filtration, the removal of organic contaminants is an important task for the production of good quality drinking water. The transport of an organic contaminant in riverbank filtration can be retarded by sorption on to the solid matrix and facilitated by the presence of mobile colloids. In the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and bacteria, the subsurface environment can be modeled as a four-phase porous medium: two mobile colloidal phases, an aqueous phase, and a solid matrix. In this study, a kinetic model is developed to simulate the contaminant transport in riverbank filtration in the presence of DOM and bacteria. The bacterial deposition and the contaminant sorption on bacteria and DOM are expressed with kinetic expressions. The model equations are solved numerically with a fully implicit finite difference method. Simulation results show that the contaminant mobility increases greatly in riverbank filtration due to the presence of DOM. The mobility can be enhanced further when the bacteria and DOM are present together in the aquifer. In this system, the total aqueous phase contaminant concentration, Cct+, includes the contaminant dissolved in the aqueous phase, Cc+, the contaminant sorbed to DOM, σcd+, and the contaminant sorbed to mobile bacteria, Cb+σcbm+, (i.e. Cct+=Cc++σcd++Cb+σcbm+). Sensitivity analysis illustrates that the distribution of the total aqueous phase contaminants among the dissolved phase, DOM and bacteria is changed significantly with various Damko¨hler numbers related to the contaminant sorption on mobile colloids. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Riparian municipal wells, that are located on riverbanks, are specifically designed to capture a portion of the river water through induced infiltration. Runoff from agricultural watersheds is found to carry enormous amounts of pesticides and nitrate. While the risk of contamination for a vast majority of sites with small-capacity vertical wells is low, potential exists for medium to large capacity collector wells to capture a fraction of the surface water contaminants during flood. Prior monitoring and current modeling results indicate that a small-capacity (peak pumpage 0.0315 m3/s) vertical bank filtration well may not be affected by river water nitrate and atrazine even during flood periods. For a medium capacity (0.0875–0.175 m3/s) hypothetical collector well at the same site, potential exists for a portion of the river water nitrate and atrazine to enter the well during flood periods. Various combinations of hydraulic conductivity of the riverbed or bank material were used. For nitrate, it was assumed either no denitrification occurred during the period of simulation or a half-life of 2 years. Equilibrium controlled sorption (organic carbon partition coefficient of 52 ml/g) and a half-life of between 7.5 and 15 weeks were considered for atrazine. Combinations of these parameters were used in various simulations. Peak concentrations of atrazine or nitrate in pumped water could vary from less than 1% to as high as 90% of that in the river. It was found that a combination of river stage, pumping rates, hydraulic properties of the riverbed and bank, and soil/pesticide properties could affect contaminant entry from river water to any of these wells. If the hydraulic conductivity of the bed and bank material were low, atrazine would not reach the pumping well with or without sorption and degradation. However, for moderately low permeable bank and bed materials, some atrazine from river water could enter a hypothetical collector well while pumping at 0.0875 m3/s. It was interesting to note that doubling the pumpage of this collector well would bring in more ground water from the aquifer (with no atrazine) and thus have a lower concentration of atrazine in the filtrate. For highly conductive banks, it is possible to find some atrazine at a vertical well for a sustained pumpage rate of 0.0125 m3/s if the effect of sorption is neglected. However, with equilibrium sorption, the concentration would be below the detection limit. On the other hand, if a collector well of capacity 0.0875 m3/s is used at the place of the vertical well with highly conductive banks, atrazine concentration in the filtrate would be about 80% of river water even assuming equilibrium sorption and a half-life of 7.5 weeks. Remediation of river water contamination of the aquifer using ‘scavenger’ wells between the river and the pumping well(s) was not a feasible option due to the contact of the aquifer with a highly conductive bank at the site. However, moving the existing pumping well(s) 100 m upstream would have negligible impact from the bank-stored water. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Du¨sseldorf waterworks have been using riverbank filtration since 1870 with bank filtration as the most important source for public water supply in this densely populated and industrialised region. There have been many threats to this supply in the last few decades—e.g. poor river water quality, heavy clogging of the riverbed, accidental pollution—which had to be overcome. First field studies in the river Rhine were carried out with a diving cabin in 1953 and 1954 to investigate riverbed clogging during high loads of organic contaminants in the river water. In 1987 a second investigation of the riverbed followed in the same area during which time the water quality of the river had improved. After the Sandoz accident in 1986 a joint research project was carried out in the Lower Rhine region to improve knowledge of flow and transport phenomena of riverbank filtration and to develop numerical models for the dynamic simulation of flow and transport. The main objective of the field studies was to gain more insight into the dynamic river–aquifer interactions and the effects of fluctuating river levels. These fluctuations are not only relevant for clogging processes and the velocities and residence times in the subsoil, but can also affect the quality of the well water. Depth-orientated sampling in the adjacent aquifer was employed. One important finding was a marked age-stratification of the bank-filtered water which balances out fluctuating concentrations of dissolved compounds in the river water. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]