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IS REMOVAL THE ONLY OPTION: IN SITU REMEDIATION OF METAL CONTAMINATED SOILS
Citation:
Ryan*, J A. IS REMOVAL THE ONLY OPTION: IN SITU REMEDIATION OF METAL CONTAMINATED SOILS. Presented at 23rd Annual Lead Occupational Health, Safety & Environmental Protection Conference, League City, TX, 10/16-19/2001.
Description:
The In-place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies (IINERT) Soil-Metals Action Team was established in 11/95 as one of several Action Teams under the USEPA Remediation Technologies Development Forum (RTDF). Its primary goal was to examine in situ remediation alternatives that are low cost and environmentally benign, yet provide equivalent or better protection to human health and the environment compared with conventonal methods, such as excavation and capping. The IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team includes representatives from industry and government who share an interest in further developing and validating in situ techniques as viable technologies for eliminating the hazards of metals in soils and other surficial materials. In-place inactivation is a prospective remediation technology in which materials are applied in situ to alter soil contaminant geochemistry, making the contaminant less water-soluble, less mobile, and less bioavailable. A field experiment was started in the fall of 1996 at an urban site in Joplin, MO. The objective was to help accomplish the two-fold mission of the team: 1) develop and demonstrate in situ treatment technologies that reduce and eliminate the risks to human health and the environment of metals technologies that reduce and eliminate the risks to human health and the environment of metals in soil, and 2) achieve regulatory and public acceptance of these technologies. Another series of field experiments were established at Bunker Hill ID to look at methods of reduction of soil metal phytoavailability. The data that has been developed from these cooperative research effort will be discussed.