What are the effects of saltwater intrusion?

What are the effects of saltwater intrusion?

Saltwater intrusion can result in the need for water utilities to increase treatment, relocate water intakes, or development of alternate sources of fresh water. Saltwater intrusion, through surface or ground water sources, may diminish the availability or quality of source waters for drinking water utilities.

How does saltwater intrusion affect the environment?

Groundwater pumping can reduce freshwater flow toward coastal areas and cause saltwater to be drawn toward the freshwater zones of the aquifer. Saltwater intrusion decreases freshwater storage in the aquifers, and, in extreme cases, can result in the abandonment of wells.

What conditions contribute to saltwater intrusion?

As sea levels rise along the coasts, saltwater can move onto the land. Known as saltwater intrusion, this occurs when storm surges or high tides overtop areas low in elevation. It also occurs when saltwater infiltrates freshwater aquifers and raises the groundwater table below the soil surface.

What is the impact of saltwater intrusion on human health?

Impacts of excessive salt on health includes hypertension or high blood pressure in both male and female adults, leading to higher risks of stroke. Pregnant women have been found to be particularly at risk of gestational hypertension, (pre)eclampsia, and post-partum infant morbidity and mortality.

Why does saltwater intrusion affect only coastal areas?

Generally, saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers is caused by two mechanisms: Lateral encroachment from the ocean due to excessive water withdrawals from coastal aquifers, or. Upward movement from deeper saline zones due to upconing near coastal discharge/pumping wells.

Why is saltwater intrusion a big concern in Florida?

The invading sea is also seeping in underground and coming for your drinking water. Decades of too much pumping and draining to provide both drinking water and flood control leave South Florida susceptible to “saltwater intrusion” – when the ocean moves in and contaminates underground freshwater sources.

How does saltwater intrusion affect wetlands?

Saltwater intrusion can disrupt many wetland functions. The increase in salinity levels can hinder natural processes in wetlands such as denitrification and water quality management. Ecosystem and habitat destruction from saltwater intrusion is also a major concern.

How does saltwater intrusion affect crops?

Elevated salinity levels cause crop yield declines, coastal forest loss, increases in salt-tolerant invasive species, eutrophication and marsh migration. Vegetation stressed by salinization is more susceptible to mortality by events such as droughts, hurricanes, and fires.

In which of the following is the danger of saltwater intrusion The Greatest?

Seawater intrusion occurs when an aquifer is connected to (outcrops into) a marine water body, and when the pressure in the aquifer falls low enough to allow the movement of saltwater into the aquifer. Areas immediately adjacent to marine shorelines are at the greatest risk for seawater intrusion.

How does saltwater intrusion cause land loss?

Saltwater from oceans can move inland, encroaching on freshwater systems and habitats. This can be a major driver of erosion and coastal habitat destruction. Rising sea levels are also increasing saltwater inundation into groundwater aquifers and estuaries.

What are the main causes of salt water intrusion into land?

Seawater intrusion is caused by decreases in groundwater levels or by rises in seawater levels. When you pump out fresh water rapidly, you lower the height of the freshwater in the aquifer forming a cone of depression. The salt water rises 40 feet for every 1 foot of freshwater depression and forms a cone of ascension.

How does saltwater intrusion affect plants?

It may start to creep into freshwater areas through a process called saltwater intrusion. Over time, plants that are adapted to live in freshwater conditions may no longer be able to survive when the water becomes saltier. Saltmarsh plants may begin to move in to take their places, allowing for saltmarsh migration.

What is “saltwater intrusion”?

If this balance is upset by too much water being removed from the aquifer system from pumping, then saline groundwater can migrate landward by a process referred to as “saltwater intrusion”. If a pumping well is close to the landward migrating freshwater/saltwater interface, the potential exists for saltwater contamination in the well.

How does drought affect saltwater intrusion in the Carolinas?

Drought conditions greatly exacerbate the saltwater intrusion problem in the Carolinas by reducing freshwater flow into estuaries, thereby allowing the saltwater wedge to move further and further upstream. The saltwater wedge may then come into contact with intakes from industrial centers and water and sewer districts.

What is the USGS doing about seawater intrusion?

The USGS studies how excessive groundwater pumping, sea level rise, and other factors contribute to the encroachment of seawater into fresh groundwater supplies. This research aids those who manage the water supplies, allowing for better management strategies to protect people and their sources of water.

Does saltwater intrusion affect coastal marsh vegetation communities in Louisiana?

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita pushed salt water from the Gulf of Mexico well inland into freshwater marsh communities in coastal Louisiana. This paper describes the spatial extent of saltwater intrusion and provides an initial assessment of impacts (salt stress) to coastal marsh vegetation communities.