Ground Water Pollution From Subsurface Excavations

Report on processes and methods of controlling underground water pollution (pollution control) resulting from subsurface excavations - examines aspects of water quality, methods of pollutant transport, pollution from wells, lagoons, pits, sanitation systems, landfills, pipeline leakage, etc. Graphs, illustration, references and statistical tables.

Report on processes and methods of controlling underground water pollution (pollution control) resulting from subsurface excavations - examines aspects of water quality, methods of pollutant transport, pollution from wells, lagoons, pits, sanitation systems, landfills, pipeline leakage, etc. Graphs, illustration, references and statistical tables.

This book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date review of technologies for cleaning up contaminants in groundwater and soil. It provides a special focus on three classes of contaminants that have proven very difficult to treat once released to the subsurface: metals, radionuclides, and dense nonaqueous-phase liquids such as chlorinated solvents. Groundwater and Soil Cleanup was commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of its program to clean up contamination in the nuclear weapons production complex. In addition to a review of remediation technologies, the book describes new trends in regulation of contaminated sites and assesses DOE's program for developing new subsurface cleanup technologies.

At hundreds of thousands of commercial, industrial, and military sites across the country, subsurface materials including groundwater are contaminated with chemical waste. The last decade has seen growing interest in using aggressive source remediation technologies to remove contaminants from the subsurface, but there is limited understanding of (1) the effectiveness of these technologies and (2) the overall effect of mass removal on groundwater quality. This report reviews the suite of technologies available for source remediation and their ability to reach a variety of cleanup goals, from meeting regulatory standards for groundwater to reducing costs. The report proposes elements of a protocol for accomplishing source remediation that should enable project managers to decide whether and how to pursue source remediation at their sites.

The complex topic of in-situ subsurface remediation technologies has been ad dressed at an international symposium at the Universitat Stuttgart on September 26 and 27, 1995, on the occasion of the inauguration of the research facility VEGAS (Versuchseinrichtung zur Grundwasser- und Altlastensanierung). The results are contained in this book with 22 contributions from leading experts in the field from Europe and North America. The book illustrates the role of large-scale experiments in groundwater and subsurface remediation research. The subtopics address the various links between conventional laboratory experiments, technology-scale experiments and field-site studies, showing the contribution of large-scale experiments to bridging the gap between small-scale investigations and large-scale field investigations (upscaling). The interdisciplinary nature of the problems requires a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the idea has been followed to bring together the various disciplines in volved in the different aspects and facets of subsurface flow, transport and trans as hydraulics and hydrology, physics, formation, involving such diverse disciplines chemistry, microbiology, geology, industrial, chemical and hydraulic engineering, mathematics and hydroinformatics. The individual contributions from these di versified fields address the subject from different angles in an attempt to form a coherent picture of the various aspects of the complex problems of subsurface remediation. The focus is on research approaches and strategies with respect to the development of new and improved technologies and to the role of large-scale experiments in research and application.

Biological activity occurring in subsurface regions below the soil zone may be of considerable importance in determining the fate and effect of pollutants in ground water, but this possibility has received little previous attention. This paper comprises a discussion of subsurface biological activity in regard to ground-water pollution as reflected by available literature references. The subsurface environment is discussed in terms of factors likely to be of greatest significance in regard to the development of biological systems, and previous investigations of subsurface microbial activity are reviewed. Available information indicates the presence in the upper continental crust of the earth of numerous regions, particularly those of sedimentary origin, which are probably suitable habitats for many microbial species. Previous investigations of subsurface microbial activity clearly show the presence of diverse microbial populations in many subsurface regions below the soil zone. Hence, microbial activity appears both possible and probable in most subsurface regions of importance in regard to ground water. Further elucidation of the extent and nature of microbial activity in subsurface regions is needed in developing methods for predicting the impact on ground-water quality of pollutants released into the earth's crust.

In the past decade, officials responsible for clean-up of contaminated groundwater have increasingly turned to natural attenuation-essentially allowing naturally occurring processes to reduce the toxic potential of contaminants-versus engineered solutions. This saves both money and headaches. To the people in surrounding communities, though, it can appear that clean-up officials are simply walking away from contaminated sites. When is natural attenuation the appropriate approach to a clean-up? This book presents the consensus of a diverse committee, informed by the views of researchers, regulators, and community activists. The committee reviews the likely effectiveness of natural attenuation with different classes of contaminants-and describes how to evaluate the "footprints" of natural attenuation at a site to determine whether natural processes will provide adequate clean-up. Included are recommendations for regulatory change. The committee emphasizes the importance of the public's belief and attitudes toward remediation and provides guidance on involving community stakeholders throughout the clean-up process. The book explores how contamination occurs, explaining concepts and terms, and includes case studies from the Hanford nuclear site, military bases, as well as other sites. It provides historical background and important data on clean-up processes and goes on to offer critical reviews of 14 published protocols for evaluating natural attenuation.