Geothermal Water Management

Drinking water shortages in many regions of the world have often contributed to the development of water treatment technologies. Not only arid and semi-arid regions are increasingly exposed to water shortage, but also many other regions face limitations of the fresh water resources.
Geothermal energy is being used for heating and for power generating purposes in many countries. In some cases, cooled geothermal waters are discharged into the rivers. The use of cooled waters for drinking water purposes can be considered as an alternative method of disposing them.
This book discusses the effective use of geothermal water and renewable energy for future needs of a modern sustainable, effective management of water resources.It determines the potential of a desalination processes to reduce total dissolved solids (TDS), enhance removal of microelements (such as arsenic and boron) and also natural radionuclides so making geothermal waters suitable for discharge into surface waters or reuse for drinking, irrigation and other purposes. The key issue of the research is utilising the retentate, which contains a concentrate of the chemical elements and compounds removed from the geothermal water.

The research field includes crucial new areas of study:
• An improvement in the management of freshwater resources through the use of residual geothermal water.
• The recovery of mineral compounds with balneological and economic importance (the production of mineral resources).
• The development of the balneotherapy, tourist and leisure sectors using geothermal water treatment.

Te book will be used as an incentive for what and how new and energy efficient technologies can be applied as an effective solution in residual geothermal water management to satisfy the continually increasing water demand for industrial, agricultural and drinking purposes in an economically sustainable way.

Prof. Dr. Jochen Bundschuh (Germany, 1960)?finished his PhD on numerical modelling of heat transport in aquifers in Tubingen in 1990. During more than 17 years, he has been working in international academic and technical co-operation programs in different fields of geothermics, subsurface- and surface hydrology and integrated water resources management. From 1993 to 1999 he served as expert of the German Agency of Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and as long-term professor for the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in Argentine. In 2001 he was appointed by the Integrated Expert Program of CIM (GTZ/A), Frankfurt, Germany and works in a mission in Costa Rica at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Dr. Bundschuh is associate professor of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. Since 2006, he is co-project manager of the Iberoamerican network on arsenic research IBEROARSEN (CYTED, 2006-2009), which coordinates 46 working groups with 200 individual researchers from 17 countries of Iberoamerica and the Iberian Peninsula. From June 2009 he is teaching in the area of renewable energies, in particular geothermics, at the University of Applied Sciences in Karlsruhe (Germany) and as researcher at the Institute of Applied Research, where he works in the areas of renewable energy including areas such as renewable energy for clean water production and low enthalpy geothermal resources. From 2009 to 2012 he was visiting professor at the Cheng Kungs University in Tainan, Taiwan befor he took over a professorship at the University of Southern Queensland in February 2012.

Dr. Bundschuh is chief editor of the book series "Multiphysics Modeling" (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press) whose first volume "Numerical Modeling of coupled Phenomena in Science and Engineering—Practical Use and Examples" (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press) was published in 2008, and principal author of the second volume "Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems" (2010). He is also chief editor of the book series "Arsenic in the Environment" (Taylor&Francis/CRC Press/Balkema), and principal organizer of the homonymous international congress series. He is editor of the books "Geothermal Energy Resources for Developing Countries’’ (2002), "Natural Arsenic in Groundwater" (2005), and the two-volume monograph "Central America: Geology, Resources and Hazards" (2007), "Groundwater for Sustainable Development" (2008), "Natural Arsenic in Groundwater of Latin America (2008). He is author of the book "Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Resources for Power Generation" (2008) (all Taylor&Francis/CRC Press/Balkema). He is an editor of the book "Arsenic in Soil and Groundwater Environment" (Elsevier, 2007) and of a special issue of the journal Science of the Total Environment "Arsenic in the Environment: Biology and Chemistry" (Elsevier 2007) and the special issue of the journal Contaminant Hydrology (Elsevier 2008) with the title "Geogenic Arsenic in Hydrologic Systems: Controls and Challenges". He is principal editor of the book "Distribucion del arsenico en las regiones Iberica e Iberoamericana" (Cyted 2008). He is managing editor of a special issue in Water Research (Elsevier 2010) with the title "Groundwater Arsenic: From Genesis to Sustainable Remediation".

Dr Barbara Tomaszewska (Poland, 1971) finished her PhD degree in 2001 at AGH - University of Science and Technology in Krakow, at the Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection. She has conducted a broad research into area of changes within the aeration zone in the soil and aquatic environments under the influence of atmospheric pollution and migration of contaminants from landfills. What has been presented in her thesis is the spatial and temporar change in the quality of groundwaters and pore solutions study, focusing on specific indicators of pollution, including fluoride and boron ions, alongside with chlorides and sulphates. Since December 2001, she worked as the senior geology and environmental inspector at the Mining District Authority in Krakow where she was working as supervisor of mining operations in the Malopolska region until February 2007. During that time, she had an opportunity to gain further knowledge about the practice of underground, open-cast and well-mining operations. In March 2007, Dr Tomaszewska joined the Department of Renewable Energy and Environmental Research at Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute, Polish Academy of Science (PAS MEERI), Krakow, where she helds until now an independent researcher position. In February 2012, she was elected to the Institute’s Scientific Board. Her full specific research interest, in order of importance, includes: 1) monitoring the soil and aquatic environment and the assessment of the chemical condition of groundwaters, according to spatial and temporal perspectives; 2) the occurrence and consequences of increased boron concentration in water; 3) stability of the chemical composition of health treatment waters; 4) the impact of geological studies on the occurrence of health treatment and thermal waters; 5) forecast and prevention of clogging in geothermal systems; 6) sustainable and efficient management of mineral resources as well as groundwaters maintaining the state of environment; 7) treatment of geothermal waters using selected membrane processes; 8) legal regulations in geology and protection of environment.

Dr Tomaszewska has conducted Poland’s first research assessing the potential for treating cooled geothermal wastewaters for drinking and household purposes. She has been an author or co-author of five large volumes, including a role of an editor or co-editor of two of them. One of these volumes was awarded by Rector of the AGH - University of Science and Technology in Krakow. She has also contributed, or cooperated with other authors in publishing 14 chapters of larger publication and 54 papers for journals with national and worldwide availability, she has joined as well domestic and international conference proceeds (including 19 papers available in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, 35 papers in foreign and Polish journals, including 9 submissions to conference proceeds with worldwide availablity). She has been actively contributing to work on practical applications, including being a co-author of a patent application. Furthermore she has been an author or co-author of 97 confidential studies, including 48 collective studies, expert opinions and 35 research documentations within which 15 have been completed projects implemented in practice.