Assessment of the characteristics of seepage water through earth dam based on hydrochemical and stable isotope method

Abstract

    The dam is a construction built to prevent water for hydropower/irrigation reservoirs. Water fromthe reservoir seeps through the dam body/foundation will give information about seepage flow.Understanding the characteristics of seepage flow through physical, chemical indicators helps togive the most basic visualization of the permeability regime, thereby helping to control the seepageeffectively. The report presents some results of the application of hydrochemical and stable isotopemethod to study the characteristics of seepage water through the homogeneous earth dam. Samplesof reservoir water, dam body water, dam foundation water, and two concentrated seepage points inthe downstream of the dam were analyzed for conductivity, pH, TDS, ionic components, stableisotopes. The results showed that water from the lake seeps through the dam body is dominated bythe dissolution and ion exchange process. The dam foundation water is recharged by reservoirwater and local CO2 - rich groundwater. In addition, the results show that the dam foundationwater significantly contributes to the origin of the downstream concentrated seepage points.