the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Towards efficient management of riverbank filtration sites: New insights on river–groundwater interactions from environmental tracers and high-resolution monitoring
Abstract. Riverbank filtration (RBF), a managed aquifer recharge (MAR) technique utilised at the river–groundwater interface, can enhance groundwater quantity and quality, thus improving water supply security. However, it demands targeted local and regional monitoring strategies to understand how recharge efficiency and water quality benefits may vary with seasonal and short-term, event-based river flow fluctuations, upstream contaminant inputs, and site-specific aquifer heterogeneity. We evaluated river water–groundwater mixing and groundwater residence times to enhance the knowledge of aquifer recharge dynamics at the RBF site near Tarnów, Poland, serving as a critical drinking water source for this agglomeration. By coupling environmental tracers (stable water isotopes, chloride concentration, water temperature and specific electrical conductance) with high-resolution hydrological, meteorological and groundwater abstraction records, we show that RBF is the dominant recharge mechanism for the analysed system functioning, constituting over 90 % of year-round yield from the production wells near the riverbank. Based on this example, we present a transferable and practical methodology for managing RBF systems efficiently: a multi-tracer, Ensemble End-Member Mixing Analysis (EEMMA) based workflow that covers at least one hydrological year, checks for local biases, and combines discrete water samples with continuous monitoring of physicochemical and hydrometeorological data, provides a robust and cost-effective template for recharge-source assessment. Such a framework determines both quantitative and qualitative status of abstracted groundwater and facilitates proactive responses to upstream pollution events and/or rapid hydrological shifts, which are crucial for sustainable water resource management internationally.
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Status: final response (author comments only)
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-3841', Anonymous Referee #1, 29 Sep 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Krzysztof Janik, 02 Oct 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-3841', Anonymous Referee #2, 30 Sep 2025
The manuscript presents a novel application of EEMMA to RBF in Poland and reveals a strong link between isotopic evidence and catchment processes. The Materials and Methods section is comprehensive and detailed enough, providing clear descriptions of the study site, thorough field and lab methodology, transparent datasets, analytical approaches and clear methodological insights into EEMMA application. The discussion and conclusion provide an international context for the results and offer practical recommendations to RBF operators, justifying high-resolution monitoring.
The primary concerns relate to the language style, with overly long sentences and some redundant phrasing that disrupts the flow. First and foremost, however, the authors should clarify the nomenclature of water drawn from RBF wells. In my opinion, the term 'groundwater abstraction' is not appropriate in the context of water drawn from the RBF wells. As you correctly pointed out in the Introduction, it is a mixture of surface water and groundwater. I hereby propose changing it just to 'water abstraction' or another term that emphasises that it is a mixture of water from different sources. In addition, it would be beneficial to briefly address the geological structure and hydrogeological conditions in the upstream catchment area, and to include a discussion how these aspects influence the results.
I would express my appreciation for the comprehensive supplementary data.
Considering the innovative character of the study and its effective presentation I recommend the manuscript for publication with minor corrections. Please refer to the attached PDF file for details.
I would like to congratulate the authors on their hard work and wish them the best of luck with the final publication.
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Krzysztof Janik, 02 Oct 2025
Data sets
R scripts and data for the manuscript "Towards efficient management of riverbank filtration sites: New insights on river-groundwater interactions from environmental tracers and high-resolution monitoring" Krzysztof Janik (Supervisor: Sławomir Sitek) https://zenodo.org/records/16754376
Interactive computing environment
R scripts and data for the manuscript "Towards efficient management of riverbank filtration sites: New insights on river-groundwater interactions from environmental tracers and high-resolution monitoring" Krzysztof Janik (Supervisor: Sławomir Sitek) https://zenodo.org/records/16754376
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It was a pleasure to read and review this well-prepared manuscript by Janik et al.. The objectives, methods, presentation and clarity of writing are first class. The manuscript is well focussed, direct and purposeful and will be a significant contribution to RBF/MAR. It makes a valuable contribution that will be well recieved by water resources managers, especially as it gives a great deal of design and monitoring information that can be readily adapted to proposed RBF/MAR systems. I recommend that themanuscript be accepted more or less as s, subject to a few minor editorial suggestions in the attached annotated pdf file. Congratulations on an excellent paper.