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EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAY POLYMER CAPPING MATERIAL IN ISOLATING ORGANIC AND INORGANIC SEDIMENT CONTAMINATION
Citation:
BULLARD, A., M. GRAVES, E. F. BARTH, AND D. D. REIBLE. EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAY POLYMER CAPPING MATERIAL IN ISOLATING ORGANIC AND INORGANIC SEDIMENT CONTAMINATION. Presented at Fourth International Conference on Removal of Contaminated Sediments, Savanna, GA, January 22 - 27, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
To evaluate the effectiveness of various capping materials and application approacehs for isolating sediment contaminants, primarily polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals.
Description:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) has been funding the demonstration of sediment capping remediation design and assessment in the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., through the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program. The Anacostia River is a highly contaminated surface water body, stretches of which are currently on the National Priority List (NPL) of Superfund Sites. The goal of the demonstration is to evaluate the effectiveness of various capping materials and application approaches for isolating sediment contaminants, primarily polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and metals. Battelle has been contracted by NRMRL to evaluate the quaBlok™ capping technology portion of the overall demonstration program, which also includes apatite, coke breeze, and traditional sand capping applications. Evaluation of the AquaBlok™ capping technology has included field assessments of the AquaBlok™ and traditional sand capping cells, in addition to an established reference cell in the Anacostia River, using multiple field and laboratory measurement tools. Specific measurement endpoints being assessed in the demonstration program include the physical stability of AquaBlok™ and the differential ability of AquaBlok™ to control hydraulic seepage of sediment contamination. The field and laboratory measurement tools employed to assess these endpoints include sidescan sonar, subbottom profiling, bathymetric surveying, sediment profile imaging (SPI), seepage meter testing, gas flux chamber sampling, seqiment coring and laboratory analysis of sediment samples, and inclinometer testing. The AquaBlok™ demonstration program is being accomplished through the implementation of several discrete sampling events, including pre-capping and I-month, 6-month, I8-month, and 30-month post-capping field events. To date, the pre-capping, I-month, 6-month, and I8-month post-capping field events have been implemented. Data currently available indicate that the AquaBlok™ capping material is both highly physically stable and effective at controlling the potential for hydraulic seepage of sediment contaminants. This presentation will summarize and discuss the available data that support these conclusions.