Emery Coppola Jr., Ph.D., ...

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Emery Coppola Jr., Ph.D., President NOAH LLC

Dear Bhagya,

I think the issue is not technology but whether you are pumping in a coastal area, where saltwater intrusion occurs due to over-pumping?   If so, it is not an issue of the "technology" - that is, whether one uses a tube well versus an irrigation well, etc.  It is more an issue of your total groundwater withdrawals upsetting the natural equilibrium, whereby you start to deplete groundwater storage, which results in saltwater intrusion and/or upconing from changes in the natural groundwater flow system.

Thus, what you really need to do is optimize your regional groundwater pumping.  Or, if you have a single well, and upconing is the issue, install the well relatively shallow and as far about the freshwater-saltwater interface.  But over time, as regional pumping progresses, your well could become salinated with the changing salinity front. 

View my website www.noahlc.com for a case study on saltwater upconing in a coastal area - Provincetown (under Case Studies).

 

Sincerely,

Emery