Remediation Work Plan

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.

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Across the United States, thousands of hazardous waste sites are contaminated with chemicals that prevent the underlying groundwater from meeting drinking water standards. These include Superfund sites and other facilities that handle and dispose of hazardous waste, active and inactive dry cleaners, and leaking underground storage tanks; many are at federal facilities such as military installations. While many sites have been closed over the past 30 years through cleanup programs run by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. EPA, and other state and federal agencies, the remaining caseload is much more difficult to address because the nature of the contamination and subsurface conditions make it difficult to achieve drinking water standards in the affected groundwater. Alternatives for Managing the Nation's Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites estimates that at least 126,000 sites across the U.S. still have contaminated groundwater, and their closure is expected to cost at least $110 billion to $127 billion. About 10 percent of these sites are considered "complex," meaning restoration is unlikely to be achieved in the next 50 to 100 years due to technological limitations. At sites where contaminant concentrations have plateaued at levels above cleanup goals despite active efforts, the report recommends evaluating whether the sites should transition to long-term management, where risks would be monitored and harmful exposures prevented, but at reduced costs.

To ask the right question, one needs to have some idea of what the answer might be. So it is with remediation. There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to characterizing a site, as information can aid in selecting the best remediation options. Unfortunately, the collection of data for making an informed decision is often costly, forcing professionals to make decisions on incomplete data. The lack of accurate data can also lead to the wrong remediation method selections, unwanted surprises, and extra expense. Based on the author’s more than 40 years of experience working on environmental projects, Remediation Manual for Contaminated Sites provides a practical guide to environmental remediation and cleanups. It presents a broad overview of the environmental remediation process, distilled into what one needs to know to evaluate a specific challenge or solve a remediation problem. The text offers guidance on tasks that range from managing consultants and contractors to gathering data, selecting a suitable remediation technology, and calculating remediation costs. The book includes remediation strategies for a variety of contaminants and examines a wide range of technologies for the remediation of water and soil, including excavation, wells, drainage, soil venting, vapor stripping, incineration, bioremediation, containment, solidification, vitrification, and phytoremediation. Written as a down-to-earth reference for professionals faced with the challenges of remediating a contaminated site, this book is also useful as a primer for students and those new to the field. It includes numerous figures, photographs, tables, and helpful checklists.