Stephanie Storer

Project Title: "Groundwater modeling in southern Benin, Africa."

Stephanie is working under Notre Dame's Benin Program with Beninois partners to develop wellhead protection strategies in Benin, West Africa. These strategies encompass technically sound capture zone analysis under conditions of complex geology and minimal data support. She is developing a management strategy which is acceptable to Benin's local governments, national government and local population. Her strategy incorporates unvertainty into the management strategy through deterministic quantitative capture zones that incorporate both the hydraulics and potential contaminant sources in the analysis. Paramount to the sustainability of the project is the trade-off between avoidance of risk and the potential loss of select beneficial land use and cultural practices.

The development of a wellhead protection strategy is the long-term research goal. This goal, however, must be based on an understanding of the link between land use practices, particularly related to human and livestock wastes, and the potential for contaminants to travel to a groundwater well. Hence, a short-term research goal (for the coming year and supported in part by through the Center for Aquatic Conservation Graduate Student Fellowship is study of capture zone delineation under varying conceptual models of flow and transport in this complex terrain.

It is recognized that, capture zone delineation depends on the geology of a region as well as land use practices as both impact the subsurface flow pathways of groundwater. For our efforts in Benin, the groundwater model may be conceptualized in various ways, ranging from discrete fractures to a continuum porous medium. The choice of conceptualization will likely impact the size and geometry of the capture zone: hence our studies will focus on the variation among these conceptualizations.

My work will be based on multiple regional and local groundwater models. Groundwater modeling will be completed for conditions ranging from discrete fractures to porous media. Results will be compared to determine the importance of conceptualization, as well as field data required to select from among the conceptual models. . This area of study will be advanced through collaboration among the existing partnerships which include, but are not limited to, the Universite d'Abomey-Calavi national university in Benin, Centre Afrika Obota (a Beninois NGO), national / local offices of the government water agency (Direction de l'Hydraulique), and the local populations in our project villages. Rural village populations in the Colline Department of Benin will be the major stakeholders in this project and will be most directly involved with the land use management strategy.

Distinctive Outcomes: Stephanie is located in Benin, Africa where she is collaborating with local government to create policies for environmental protection.