General outline

Evaluation of the existing pilot sites and the workshop made clear that there is a lack of understanding of the strong variation in permeability, salinity, and trace metal concentration both at regional and local scale. This heterogeneity is presumably a function of regional scale Quarternary depositional processes of North-South interacting fresh-water rivers and saline marine water, and meso/local scale East-West processes creating sandy channel belts and clayey-organic backswamps.

Knowledge concerning the local depositional environment patterns at the scale of the research area is lacking. Furthermore, the effects of recent human settlement and land use (notably pond excavation, shallow groundwater extraction) on groundwater quantity and quality remains understudied. Improved insight on the regional scale of local hydrogeological conditions and socio-economic drivers are needed to determine the potential success of MAR implementation in the Bangladesh saline delta.

Lessons learned from Bangladesh may then be used to provide an outlook to MAR implementation potentials in similar saline deltas worldwide.

People

This PhD research project is executed by Floris Naus, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jasper Griffioen, Dr. Paul Schot, Dr. Koos Groen, and Prof. Dr. Kazi Matin Ahmed

Scientific output

• Naus, F.L., 2020. Socio-hydrogeological Potential for Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Fresh-saline Aquifers of Southwestern Bangladesh, Ph.D. thesis. Utrecht University.
• Naus, F. L. , Schot, P., Breukelen, B. M. van, Ahmed, K. M., &  Griffioen, J. Potential for Managed Aquifer Recharge in southwestern Bangladesh based on social necessity and technical suitability. Hydrogeology Journal (accepted for publication, September 2020)
• Naus, F. L., Burer, K., van Laerhoven, F., Griffioen, J., Ahmed, K. M., & Schot, P. (2020). Why do people remain attached to unsafe drinking water options? Quantitative evidence from Southwestern Bangladesh. Water, 12(2), 342
• Naus, F. L., Schot, P. P., Ahmed, K., & Griffioen, J. (2019). Groundwater salinity variation in Upazila Assasuni (southwestern Bangladesh), as steered by surface clay layer thickness, relative elevation and present-day land use. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 23(3), 1431-1451.
• Naus, F. L., Schot, P., Ahmed, K. M., & Griffioen, J. (2019). Influence of landscape features on the large variation of shallow groundwater salinity in southwestern Bangladesh. Journal of Hydrology X, 5, 100043.