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Research at the U.S. EPA’s Ground Water and Ecosystems Protection Division
Citation:
JEWETT, D. G. Research at the U.S. EPA’s Ground Water and Ecosystems Protection Division. Presented at International Conference on Groundwater Contamination and Water System Security, Beijing, CHINA, December 01 - 02, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation for the International Conference on Groundwater Contamination and Water System Security in Beijing, China (December 1, 2011 - December 2, 2011)
Description:
The U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducts leading-edge research and fosters the sound use of science and technology to fulfill the Agency's mission to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment. The mission of the Ground Water and Ecosystems Restoration Division (GWERD), a division of the ORD’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory, is to conduct research and provide technical assistance to support the development of strategies and technologies to protect and restore ground water, surface water, and ecosystem resources impacted by man-made and natural events. The GWERD is internationally known for the subsurface characterization, protection, and remediation research it has conducted over the past five decades. Numerous ground-water remediation technologies (including in-situ bioremediation, in-situ chemical oxidation, monitored natural attenuation, and permeable reactive barriers) and strategies (such as DNAPL source zone remediation and flux-based site management) have been pioneered by researchers at the GWERD. In the late 1990s, an ecosystem restoration focus was added to the mission of the GWERD. Since then, scientists and engineers have been developing and refining approaches to restore ecological services in stream systems and riparian corridors and to protect aquatic ecosystems and the valuable habitat they provide. Given the GWERD’s extensive capabilities and vast experience characterizing and remediating subsurface environments and understanding and restoring degraded ecosystems, the GWERD is well positioned to address emerging environmental issues of national and international importance. GWERD scientists are playing key roles investigating environmental issues related to today’s water-energy nexus, such as the potential impacts to water resources caused by hydraulic fracturing and the deep geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. Other emerging environmental issues receiving attention from the GWERD include potential impacts to water resources from the increasing use of new chemicals, such as endocrine disrupting compounds and nanomaterials. This presentation will highlight the key research conducted by the GWERD to provide sound science in support of the EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment.