Evaluation of the Potential for Riverbank Filtration in Colombia Marcela Jaramillo Uribe Universidad Nacional de Colombia Facultad de Minas, Escuela de Geociencias y Medio Ambiente Medellín, Colombia 2015 Evaluation of the Potential for Riverbank Filtration in Colombia Marcela Jaramillo Uribe Tesis presentada como requisito parcial para optar al título de: Doctor en Ingeniería – Recursos Hidráulicos Director: Ph.D. Jaime Ignacio Vélez Upegui Universidad Nacional de Colombia Facultad de Minas, Departamento de Geociencias y Medio Ambiente Medellín, Colombia 2015 This is for my dad, my mom and my brother, the three apices of a triangle so uneven that it was just perfect. Dad, you could not be here but I know you would be proud to see your little girl crossing the finish line. Thanks for everything you thought me. Mom, thanks for your support and for somehow finding the way to deal with my recurrent mood swings and never given up on me. Sergio, you will always be the one who gave me the best present of all, my nephew Tomás, and I will always love you for that. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all I want to thank my professor, Jaime Ignacio Velez, for his constant support and for never given up on me despite everything. Without his guidance, both professional and personal, this work would not have seen the light of day. I also want to thank Professor Thomas Grischek from the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden because he welcomed me during my internship and was an inspiration of work and dedication. My thanks and love to Oscar for being my rock during this past year. Without you I would have been lost. Special thanks to the guys at Gotta Ingenieria in Medellin (Carlos, Mario, Oscar Estrada, Oscar Rueda, Cristian, Joa), for letting me use their facilities where I finally found the right place to write this document. Finally, I want to say thanks to all the people at Gotta for their company, jokes, encouragement and pressure to finish this thesis. To Maria Luisa because, even from the distance, has always been there for me. To Mónica, for helping me to get out of the deepest hole. To Juancho, who was there from the very beginning and remains there unconditionally despite the circumstances. To all those people whose names I’m not mentioning but somehow helped me at some point during all these years. To all of you, GRACIAS....TOTALES. TABLE OF CONTENTS RESUMEN ............................................................................................................................. xiii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. xv 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVE ................................................................................. 1 1.2 DOCUMENT OVERVIEW ........................................................................................... 5 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................... 7 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 7 2.2 SITING AND DESIGN ................................................................................................. 8 2.3 ATTENUATION PROCESSES DURING RBF ................................................................. 9 2.4 CONTAMINANT REMOVAL ..................................................................................... 10 2.4.1 Organic Contaminants .................................................................................... 10 2.4.2 Inorganic Compounds ..................................................................................... 10 2.4.3 Microbial Pathogens ....................................................................................... 11 2.4.3.1 Inactivation .............................................................................................. 11 2.4.3.2 Adsorption ............................................................................................... 11 2.4.3.3 Straining ................................................................................................... 11 2.4.3.4 Settling ..................................................................................................... 12 2.5 THE HYPORHEIC ZONE ............................................................................................ 12 2.6 RBF VS. CONVENTIONAL WATER TREATMENT ...................................................... 13 2.7 LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................... 15 2.8 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................ 17 2.9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................ 18 3 POTENTIAL RIVERBANK FILTRATION SITES IN COLOMBIA – A GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 19 3.2 METHODS ............................................................................................................... 22 3.2.1 Site Selection ................................................................................................... 22 i Evaluation of the Potential for Riverbank Filtration in Colombia 3.2.2 Google Earth Digitalization ............................................................................. 23 3.2.3 Reach Analysis ................................................................................................ 24 3.2.4 GIS Processing ................................................................................................ 25 3.2.5 Reach-Morphology Type Definition ............................................................... 26 3.2.6 Hydraulic Geometry Analysis ......................................................................... 26 3.2.7 Streams Self-Cleaning Potential ..................................................................... 26 3.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................... 27 3.3.1 Site Selection in Colombia .............................................................................. 27 3.3.2 River Profiles................................................................................................... 29 3.3.3 Stream Reaches Digitalization ........................................................................ 31 3.3.4 Morphologic Classification ............................................................................. 35 3.3.5 Stream-Reach Features .................................................................................. 37 3.3.6 Stream Power as an Indicator of the River Self-Cleaning Capacity................ 42 3.4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................... 45 3.5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................ 47 4 RIVERBANK FILTRATION AND WATER QUALITY AT TWO SITES IN ANTIOQUIA ........... 49 4.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 49 4.2 METHODS .............................................................................................................. 51 4.2.1 Site Selection .................................................................................................. 51 4.2.2 Water Sampling and Analysis ......................................................................... 52 4.2.3 Quality of the Bank Filtrate vs. the River Water ............................................ 52 4.2.4 Hydroclimatological Information ................................................................... 54 4.2.5 Hydrochemistry .............................................................................................. 54 4.2.6 Portion of River-Borne Water in the Bank Filtrate ......................................... 54 4.3 SANTA FE DE ANTIOQUIA ...................................................................................... 54 4.3.1 Site Description .............................................................................................. 54 4.3.1.1 Generalities ............................................................................................. 54 4.3.1.2 Hydroclimatology of the area ................................................................. 57 4.3.2 Results and Discussion ................................................................................... 58 4.3.2.1 Quality of the bank filtrate vs. the river water ....................................... 58 4.3.2.2 Effects of climate and geology in water chemistry ................................. 64 ii Table of Contents 4.3.2.3 Hydrochemistry ....................................................................................... 67 4.3.2.4 Portion of river water in the bank filtrate ............................................... 69 4.3.2.5 Removal rates .......................................................................................... 71 4.4 GUARNE .................................................................................................................. 72 4.4.1