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MONITORED NATURAL ATTENUATION AND RISK MANAGEMENT OF MTBE AND TBA IN GROUND WATER
Citation:
WILSON, J. T. MONITORED NATURAL ATTENUATION AND RISK MANAGEMENT OF MTBE AND TBA IN GROUND WATER. Presented at 18th National Tanks Conference, Memphis, TN, March 20 - 22, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Monitored natural attenuation (as U.S. EPA defines the term) is a remedy, where natural processes bring the concentration of MTBE or TBA to an acceptable level in a reasonable period of time. The longevity of the plume is its critical property. The rate of attenuation is typically controlled by the rate of weathering of MTBE from residual gasoline. The course will present data from the literature on rates of attenuation typically seen at gasoline spill sites. Participants will learn how to use parametric statistics to estimate and compare the rate of attenuation that is achieved in a monitoring well, the rate of attenuation that is statistically significant at some level of confidence, and the rate of attenuation that is necessary to meet the clean up goal in a specified period of time. The course will provide data on the typical variability of long term monitoring data, and will discuss the amount of data that is necessary to detect natural attenuation at some level of statistical confidence.