Quantification of the vulnerability of groundwater in river bank filtration in Québec.
Responsible for ensuring a safe and reliable drinking water supply, Canadian municipalities are not equipped to respond quickly to public health issues, environmental protection, and economic resilience related to water. In Québec, regulatory frameworks require municipalities to assess the vulnerability of drinking water sources and develop protection plans (MELCC, 2018). In this context, protecting drinking water sources is a key element of the ‘source-to-tap’ approach adopted in provinces and territories (Canada, 2004), and in many countries.
Bank filtration (BF) is an induced aquifer recharge technique that is widely used worldwide and commonly employed in Quebec (Labelle et al., 2023). In the context of BF, surface water (river, lake) infiltration is caused by pumping in the alluvial aquifer (Figure 1, right). The physical, chemical, and biological underground processes naturally filter this water until it reaches the extraction wells. Therefore, BF offers the advantages of both groundwater and surface water, namely large exploitation volumes and generally good water quality. Current management mainly relies on estimates of recharge and water travel times based on the use of ‘conventional’ tracers, e.g., electrical conductivity, δ²H-δ¹⁸O, which do not allow for detailed characterization of transfer velocity distributions in the banks. Without this information, it is not possible to develop robust models that incorporate resilience to droughts, extreme flows, and changes in river regimes (Janik et al., 2025; Popp et al., 2021). With increasing pressures on groundwater resources and hydroclimatic changes, it is urgent to develop tools to assess and quantify the long-term sustainability of BF (Verlicchi et al., 2024).
This PhD project aims to develop innovative tracer approaches to quantify the dynamics of surface water infiltration into exploitation wells, in the context of RBF in Québec, in relation to the transient nature of their vulnerability.
Field tracer experiments, based on the use of isotopic (e.g. δ²H, δ³⁷Cl) and geochemical (e.g. Br, noble gases, SF₆) tracers, will be carried out to characterise and model the response time and flowpaths of water in RBF contexts. In particular, analytical methods based on the use of the miniRUEDI (Figure 1, left), a field mass spectrometer for measuring dissolved (noble) gases, will be developed and tested in the laboratory prior to being used operationally in the field. The field campaigns will cover a wide range of hydrological and land-use contexts (urban, industrial and agricultural environments).
The aim is to provide a robust method for quantifying the vulnerability of exploitation wells in the context of RBF, at the scale of Québec. The results will contribute directly to safeguarding the drinking water supply in the province in the context of climate change.
This project will be carried out within the UNESCO Chair in Global Environmental Change (CGEC) at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at UQAM (Montréal). International collaborations are also planned (University of Oulu, Finland).
Figure 1 : Left: conceptual model of RBF (Masse-Dufresne, 2021). Right: miniRUEDI (field mass spectrometer for onsite dissolved gases analysis – Brennwald et al. (2016)).
Starting time of the project: September 2026.
Duration of the project: 3 years of funding from MELCCFP & Fonds Bleu.
Candidate profile
M.Sc. and/or Engineer degree in hydrogeology and/or geochemistry, with relevant laboratory experience (e.g. hydrochemical and isotopic analyses). Proven experience and skills in fieldwork. Knowledge of isotopic geochemistry, environmental tracer analyses and hydrogeological modelling would be an advantage.
Supervisory team
Prof. Florent Barbecot, Chaire UNESCO CEEG, Université du Québec à Montréal
Prof. Janie Masse-Dufresne, Chaire UNESCO CEEG, École de technologie supérieure
Dr. Stéphanie Musy, Université d’Oulu
Dr. Christin Müller, Chaire UNESCO CEEG, Université du Québec à Montréal
Dr. Antoine Picard, Chaire UNESCO CEEG, Université du Québec à Montréal
Person to contact to submit your C.V., cover letter and academic record (M.Sc.)
Dr. Antoine Picard picard.antoine@uqam.ca