Research Projects

submarine groundwater discharge (sGD) is a poorly studied water pathway that significantly impacts coastal water quality. Groundwater flows are often invisible and difficult to quantify in coastal aquifers, making it difficult to estimate how sGD drives coastal water quality. In India, coastal aquifers along the east coast have a history of groundwater fluoride pollution, Total Coliform due to open defecation and sewage treatment plants, and pollution from landfills or solid waste dumping sites. This study aims to investigate how sGD drives water quality in coastal systems. The hypothesis is that coastal groundwater, which was polluted daily to several decades ago, is now seeping out along shorelines and partially responsible for water quality issues in the Bay of Bengal coastal ecosystem. The project will use geochemical tracer approaches, field and laboratory investigations, and modelling to assess the shape and duration of groundwater plumes, predict their long-term impact, and assess the role of coastal aquifers in attenuating nutrient and pollutant transport to nearby Bay of Bengal surface water. Quantifying sGD-derived pollutant inputs is crucial to understanding long-term drivers of coastal water quality, as aquifers may take hours to decades to release solutes and pollutants to coastal waters.