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SUMMARY OF THE PHYTOREMEDIATION STATE OF THE SCIENCE CONFERENCE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MAY 1-2, 2000 (EPA/625/R-01/011A)
Citation:
SUMMARY OF THE PHYTOREMEDIATION STATE OF THE SCIENCE CONFERENCE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MAY 1-2, 2000 (EPA/625/R-01/011A). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 2001.
Description:
On behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Norm Kulujian welcomed speakers,
poster presenters, and meeting attendees. Five years ago, he said, many people were unfamiliar with the
concepts that underlie phytoremediation. Today, the field is burgeoning with interest, and many site owners
are asking for permission to implement phytoremediation at their sites. Regulators, Kulujian said, are eager
to obtain a better understanding of phytoremediation so that they will know where it is likely to be
successful, when to dismiss it, and when to perform preliminary tests to determine whether it is appropriate
for a particular site. Of the proposals that have been submitted, Kulujian said, most have focused on using
phytoremediation as a containment technology. This does not mean that enough data have been collected to
prove conclusively that phytoremediation is successful when applied this way, nor does it mean that
phytoremediation has no potential to reduce contaminant concentrations. Phytoremediation's optimal
application, said Kulujian, will differ across sites and will be determined by what contaminants,
climatological conditions, and geological conditions are present. Thus, phytoremediation will be useful as a
containment technology at some sites and as a destruction approach at others; at some sites, it will
probably serve as part of a treatment train.
Kulujian said that sites in arid or semi-arid climates might be excellent candidates for phytoremediation,
noting that plants might be able to extract enough moisture to prevent leachate from forming at these sites.
In addition, he said, phytoremediation might be beneficial to use at sites that have widespread
contamination and concentrations that are close to cleanup levels. Also, he said, sites that require
ecosystem restoration might obtain significant benefits by applying phytoremediation.