Towards efficient management of riverbank filtration sites: New insights on river-groundwater interactions from environmental tracers and high-resolution monitoring

Abstract

Riverbank filtration (RBF), a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) technique utilised at the river-groundwater interface, can enhance groundwater quantity and quality, thus improving water supply security. However, it demands targeted local and regional monitoring strategies to understand how recharge efficiency and water quality benefits may vary with seasonal and short-term, event-based river flow fluctuations, upstream contaminant inputs, and site-specific aquifer heterogeneity. We evaluated river water-groundwater mixing and groundwater residence times to enhance the knowledge of aquifer recharge dynamics at the RBF site near Tarnów, Poland, serving as a critical drinking water source in this region. By coupling environmental tracers (stable water isotopes, chloride concentration, water temperature and specific electrical conductance) with high-resolution hydrological, meteorological and groundwater abstraction records, we show that RBF is the dominant recharge mechanism for the system that constitutes over 90 % of year-round yield from the production wells near the riverbank. Based on this example, we present a transferable and practical methodology for managing RBF systems efficiently: a multi-tracer, Ensemble End-Member Mixing Analysis (EEMMA) based workflow that covers at least one hydrological year, checks for local biases, and combines discrete water samples with continuous monitoring of physicochemical and hydrometeorological data, thus providing a robust and cost-effective template for recharge-source assessment. Such a framework determines both quantitative and qualitative status of abstracted groundwater and facilitates proactive responses to upstream pollution events and/or rapid hydrological shifts, which are crucial for sustainable water resource management internationally.