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COST ANALYSIS OF PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS FOR REMEDIATION OF GROUND WATER
Citation:
Puls*, R W., R. POWELL, AND P. POWELL. COST ANALYSIS OF PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS FOR REMEDIATION OF GROUND WATER. A.C. Gavaskar & A.S.C. Chen (ed.), Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds. Battelle Press, Columbus, OH, (2002).
Description:
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development and its contractor have evaluated cost data from 22 sites where permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) have been utilized to remediate contaminated ground water resources. Most of the sites evaluated were full-scale systems using zero-valent iron to treat chlorinated solvent compounds (and chromium); however 6 were pilot-scale in size and 3 used other reactive media to treat inorganic contaminants. Cost comparisons indicate that, depending upon the situation, implementing a PRB can be more or less expensive than a pump and treat (P&T) system in terms of capital expenditures, but that routine operation and maintenance costs favor the PRBs. Comparisons between in situ remedial approaches (such as PRBs) and P&T is difficult at best because of factors associated with new and evolving technologies compared to standard approaches and the absence of a uniform and fair cost metric. Potential factors which will affect future analyses of PRB cost assessments is the potential need for replacement or rejuvenation of the reactive media and reduced performance monitoring costs over time as confidence in the technology increases.