The Athens groundwater flow model covers the wider area of interest (Athens Metropolitan area), along Kifisos river, the major surface watercourse with ephemeral flow that discharges into the Mediterranean Sea. The hydrological units were divided in two different layers. The first layer represents the Quaternary deposits of Kifisos river and the latter layer is formed by the Neogene formation. In order to simplify the complex stratigraphy of the plain, a different zonation was considered for several geological formations with different hydraulic characteristics. Both aquifer layers are convertible.

The model extents spatially along the boundaries of the Neogene formation and the hilly areas at the east (Imittos mountain) and the west (Egaleo mountain) while at the south, the model is bounded by the coastline (at Saronicos gulf). The inflows and outflows of the system are based on hydrodynamic conditions in the Athens plain.  The groundwater model is coupled with an unsaturated zone model to identify the interactions of the urban aquifer with surface water and the unsaturated zone at the natural riverbed of Kifisos river. The unsaturated zone model incorporates the Air-Water Interface (AWI) adsorption process in free and open-source software, a vital process that defines Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) transport in the subsurface.

The source code is open source and freely available (MODFLOW).
The Athens GW model is freely available under request of stakeholders. For further questions, please contact Andreas Kallioras (kallioras@metal.ntua.gr).

The UPWATER Cloud Ecosystem provides access to the Geonetwork: a standardized and decentralized spatial information management environment designed to enable access to geo-referenced databases, cartographic products and related metadata from a variety of sources, enhancing the spatial information exchange and sharing. Besides this, the Cloud Ecosystem provides access to the data collected by the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors installed in the three Case Study sites. Visit the UPWATER Cloud Ecosystem for more information.  

Interested to know more? Take a look at the user guide on the UPWATER Cloud Ecosystem.
For further questions, please contact Andreas Kallioras (kallioras@metal.ntua.gr).

Source Apportionment in a Python environment

SOUPY is a key tool in the source apportionment method, that aims at identifying and quantifying the contributions of different pollution sources to groundwater. The advancement of SOUPY over previous source apportionment codes lies in the fact that it leverages Python’s advanced computational capabilities to enable management of more than 15 chemical parameters, 10 recharge sources and 99 observations points in the calculations. This is crucial when dealing with complex datasets and to get more accurate and realistic results.

In short, source apportionment using SOUPY involves:

• Conceptual model: A hydrogeological conceptual model representing the key factors influencing the groundwater composition, mainly the recharge sources (so-called endmembers) and hydrochemical processes, is developed. In urban environments common endmembers are: river, urban runoff, sewer filtration, etc.
• Collection of data: collection and chemical analysis of water samples from groundwater (mixed water) and recharge sources (e.g. river, road runoff, waste water leaks), or compilation of data from literature.
• Mixing model: Estimation of the contribution of each recharge source to the groundwater composition with the SOUPY code.
• Optimization process: SOUPY uses mathematical models to fine-tune the calculations, improving accuracy and reducing uncertainties.

Because SOUPY is built in Python, it can process more data than the previous source apportionment codes EMMA and MIX and adapt to new challenges by integrating additional analytical tools.

For more information, read the article on SOUPY or take a look at the SOUPY manual. For further questions and purchase inquiries of SOUPY source apportionment services, please contact: info@iaquant.com