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INTERPRETATION OF SPLP RESULTS FOR ASSESSING RISK TO GROUNDWATER FROM LAND-APPLIED GRANULAR WASTE
Citation:
Townsend, T. G., B. Dubey, AND T. Tolaymat. INTERPRETATION OF SPLP RESULTS FOR ASSESSING RISK TO GROUNDWATER FROM LAND-APPLIED GRANULAR WASTE. A MULTIDISCIPLINARY , D. Grasso (ed.), ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Larchmont, NY, 23(1):239-251, (2006).
Impact/Purpose:
to publish information
Description:
Scientists and engineers often rely on results from the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) to assess the risk of groundwater contamination posed by the land application of granular solid wastes. The concentrations of pollutants in SPLP leachate can be measured and compared to benchmark groundwater quality criteria to determine if groundwater contamination is likely. These results are applied, however, inconsistently among regulatory agencies because of uncertainty over whether the SPLP leachate concentrations represent the actual pore water concentrations expected in the waste, or whether they represent diluted concentrations as might be expected in an aquifer. Depending on the waste in question, the SPLP results can represent either condition. The complexities associated with the application of SPLP results were illustrated by testing five granular wastes. In addition to measuring the total concentration and performing the SPLP, the wastes were leached at a series of liquid-to-solid ratios in an attempt to determine the likely pore water concentrations. The application of a dilution factor to the SPLP concentrations was found to underestimate possible risk. In many cases comparing the SPLP directly to water quality limits was found to be conservative in most situations, several observations were made when the SPLP underestimated pore water concentrations. The use of total pollutant concentrations (mg/kg) in conjunction with the SPLP concentrations (mg/L) to estimate a pore water concentration was found unreliable as it underestimates true pore water concentrations.
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INTERPRETATION OF SPLP RESULTS FOR ASSESSING RISK TO GROUNDWATER FROM LAND-APPLIED GRANULAR WASTE