Groundwater Management

Zuströmbereiche

The demands on the management of an aquifer are manifold today. Groundwater is used for drinking water supply, as service water, for agricultural irrigation and for heating and cooling of buildings.  Conflicts can arise between the different uses. Further conflicts can be caused by construction projects, flood protection projects, dams and polluted sites. The situation is further exacerbated by climate change. Without a basic understanding of the process, wrong decisions may be made under certain circumstances. Therefore it is sensitive to build and operate models for the aquifers to be managed. Once a model has been set up, the effort required to answer specific questions is significantly less. Models can be used to show complex relationships and present them in a comprehensible way.

Reference projects

Thurtal model

Herkunftswahrscheinlichkeit des gefassten Trinkwassers

Within the scope of a flood protection project near Bürglen the Simultec AG created a groundwater model of the Thur valley between Bürglen and Neunforn. Since then this model is periodically updated and improved. Additionally, a mass and heat transport model with a finer resolution was created. The model was used to answer the following questions on behalf of the canton and private clients:

  • Effects of flood protection projects on the Thur River
  • Determination of the influx area of the drinking water installations
  • Effects of a power plant project on the Thur River
  • Studies on drought scenarios
  • Effects of low-lying variants of the Bodensee-Thurtal-Road
  • Dimensioning and optimisation of construction water drainage systems
  • Case studies on the future development of irrigation
  • Development of protection zones for drinking water catchments
  • Evaluation of a large-scale pumping test at the Schachen pumping station
  • Determination of the causes of groundwater pollution
  • Assessment of groundwater heat uses
  • Provision of risk maps for flood, mean and low water levels
  • Optimisation of the network of monitoring stations for groundwater monitoring

Auswirkungen eines Hochwasserschutzprojektes

Client: Canton Thurgau

Project period: 2007 - today