Impact/Purpose:

Federal and state site managers and consulting engineers managing or advising on remedies at hazardous waste sites.

Description:

A recent evaluation of 20 fund-lead Superfund pump-and-treat sites suggests several opportunities for improving the efficiency of this process. One finding is that treatment units tend to become over-designed. This is because conventional practice is to choose a maximum concentration for the design condition. However, experience shows that the initial high concentrations of contaminants decrease significantly after several years of operation. This report will use field data to illustrate this problem and suggest design strategies to efficiently deal with this phenomenon.

Record Details: