Just over one million inhabitants in Sweden are dependent on individual drinking water supply from groundwater. When the groundwater levels are too low in a groundwater reservoir, it can lead to saltwater intrusion in drinking water wells. The purpose of this study was to establish whether topography, distance to sea, well depth, soil depth and type of soil correlated with chloride in drinking water, to investigate whether there is a risk for saltwater intrusion in a future changed climate, due to climate change, and to investigate if there are any measures to minimize saltwater intrusion.
Kendall’s tau was used to investigate if there were any significant correlations between chloride and topography, distance to sea, well depth and soil depth. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to investigate if there was a significant difference between the soil types. In this study the results only showed a significant correlation between chloride and distance to sea (p=0,000341) and between chloride and topography (p=0,0124). There was no significant correlation between chloride and the rest of the parameters. However, earlier research has shown that there is a correlation between chloride and all previous mentioned parameters. There was a significant correlation between topography and well depth, which can imply that the wells are drilled shallower in lowland areas. Regarding the soil depth connected to chloride, it is assumed that the soil depth is too thin (about one meter) to see any clear results, since a shallow soil depth won’t affect the groundwater recharge enough. This could also contribute to no significant difference between chloride and soil types.
For the second part of the study a model was built in Matlab, to investigate if and how climate change will affect changes in groundwater levels and therefore if it will influence saltwater intrusion. The reference period was 2004-2020 and the future scenarios were RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, which were divided into two periods: 2021-2060 and 2061-2099. The model showed lower groundwater levels in the future, which can imply there is a greater risk of saltwater intrusion. Although there are multiple limitations and the model could be made more nuanced.
For the third part of this study, a literature study was made, where seven different measures where investigated: to control groundwater abstraction, to install waterefficient techniques in households, to drill shallower wells in risk areas, reversed osmosis, ADR (abstraction, desalination, recharge) and SWT (subsurface water technologies). These were compared to each other, where advantages and disadvantages were balanced against each other. Overall, preventative measures are preferable, although SWT and ADR are better than reversed osmosis for already contaminated water.