A combined simulation-optimization model was developed to minimize the freshwater footprint at multi-well hydraulic fracturing sites. The model seeks to reduce freshwater use by blending it with brackish groundwater and recovered water. Time-varying water quality and quantity mass balance expressions and drawdown calculations using the Theis solution along with the superposition principle were embedded into the optimization model and solved using genetic algorithms. The model was parameterized for representative conditions in the Permian Basin oil and gas play region with the Dockum Formation serving as the brackish water source (Texas, USA). The results indicate that freshwater use can be reduced by 25–30 % by blending. Recovered water accounted for 2–3 % of the total blend or 10–15 % of total water recovered on-site. The concentration requirements of sulfate and magnesium limited blending. The evaporation in the frac pit constrained the amount blended during summer, while well yield of the brackish (Dockum) aquifer constrained the blending during winter. The Edwards-Trinity aquifer provided the best quality water compared to the Ogallala and Pecos Valley aquifers. However, the aquifer has low diffusivity causing the drawdown impacts to be felt over large areas. Speciation calculations carried out using PHREEQC indicated that precipitation of barium and strontium minerals is unlikely in the blended water. Conversely, the potential for precipitation of iron minerals is high. The developed simulation-optimization modeling framework is flexible and easily adapted for water management at other fracturing sites.

With depleted coal resources or deteriorating mining geological conditions, some coal mines have been abandoned in the Fengfeng mining district, China. Water that accumulates in an abandoned underground mine (goaf water) may be a hazard to neighboring mines and impact the groundwater environment. Groundwater samples at three abandoned mines (Yi, Er and Quantou mines) in the Fengfeng mining district and the underlying Ordovician limestone aquifer were collected to characterize their chemical and isotopic compositions and identify the sources of the mine water. The water was HCO₃·SO₄-Ca·Mg type in Er mine and the auxiliary shaft of Yi mine, and HCO₃·SO₄-Na type in the main shaft of Quantou mine. The isotopic compositions (δD and δ¹⁸O) of water in the three abandoned mines were close to that of Ordovician limestone groundwater. Faults in the abandoned mines were developmental, possibly facilitating inflows of groundwater from the underlying Ordovician limestone aquifers into the coal mines. Although the Sr²⁺ concentrations differed considerably, the ratios of Sr²⁺/Ca²⁺ and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and the ³⁴S content of SO₄²⁻ were similar for all three mine waters and Ordovician limestone groundwater, indicating that a close hydraulic connection may exist. Geochemical and isotopic indicators suggest that (1) the mine waters may originate mainly from the Ordovician limestone groundwater inflows, and (2) the upward hydraulic gradient in the limestone aquifer may prevent its contamination by the overlying abandoned mine water. The results of this study could be useful for water resources management in this area and other similar mining areas.

Groundwater recharge and evolution in the Shule River basin, Northwest China, was investigated by a combination of hydrogeochemical tracers, stable isotopes, and radiocarbon methods. Results showed the general chemistry of the groundwater is of SO₄ ²⁻ type. Water–rock reactions of halite, Glauber’s salt, gypsum and celestite, and reverse ionic exchange dictated the groundwater chemistry evolution, increasing concentrations of Cl⁻, Na⁺, SO₄ ²⁻, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Sr²⁺ in the groundwater. The δ¹⁸O and δ²H values of groundwater ranged from −10.8 to −7.7 and −74.4 to −53.1 ‰, respectively. Modern groundwater was identified in the proluvial fan and the shallow aquifer of the fine soil plain, likely as a result of direct infiltration of rivers and irrigation returns. Deep groundwater was depleted in heavy isotopes with ¹⁴C ages ranging from 3,000 to 26,000 years, suggesting palaeowater that was recharged during the late Pleistocene and middle Holocene epochs under a cold climate. These results have important implications for groundwater management in the Shule River basin, since large amounts of groundwater are effectively being mined and a water-use strategy is urgently needed.

High and variable levels of salinity were investigated in an intermittent stream in a high-rainfall area (∼800 mm/year) of the Mt. Lofty Ranges of South Australia. The groundwater system was found to have a local, upslope saline lens, referred to here as a groundwater salinity ‘hotspot’. Environmental tracer analyses (δ¹⁸O, δ²H, ⁸⁷/⁸⁶Sr, and major elements) of water from the intermittent stream, a nearby permanent stream, shallow and deep groundwater, and soil-water/runoff demonstrate seasonal groundwater input of very saline composition into the intermittent stream. This input results in large salinity increases of the stream water because the winter wet-season stream flow decreases during spring in this Mediterranean climate. Furthermore, strontium and water isotope analyses demonstrate: (1) the upslope-saline-groundwater zone (hotspot) mixes with the dominant groundwater system, (2) the intermittent-stream water is a mixture of soil-water/runoff and the upslope saline groundwater, and (3) the upslope-saline-groundwater zone results from the flushing of unsaturated-zone salts from the thick clayey regolith and soil which overlie the metamorphosed shale bedrock. The preferred theory on the origin of the upslope-saline-groundwater hotspot is land clearing of native deep-rooted woodland, followed by flushing of accumulated salts from the unsaturated zone due to increased recharge. This cause of elevated groundwater and surface-water salinity, if correct, could be widespread in Mt. Lofty Ranges areas, as well as other climatically and geologically similar areas with comparable hydrogeologic conditions.