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FIELD-DRIVEN APPROACHES TO SUBSURFACE CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT MODELING.

Contact

http://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_comments.cfm

Impact/Purpose:

To assist decision-making by improving approaches to subsurface contaminant transport modeling based on evaluation of field observations and subsequent development of appropriate modeling approaches and tools.

Description:

Observations from field sites provide a means for prioritizing research activities. In the case of petroleum releases, observations may include spiking of concentration distributions that may be related to water table fluctuation, co-location of contaminant plumes with geochemical indicators of biodegradation, and fluctuation of hydraulic gradients due to either changing weather or tidal processes. Approaches to identifying specific problems for purposes of decision-making strategies are frequently inadequate. Decision-making at underground storage tank (UST) sites tends to be made on the basis of sparse, and generally limited, data sets. This task is designed to develop tools to address situations when field observation tends to run counter to the behavior that is predicted based on results from simplified models.

One of the processes that will be addressed is that of electron acceptor transport and consumption limits on transport of contaminants. Several plumes on Long Island are unusually long and exhibit other characteristics that suggest that biodegradation is limited. This work is intended to test the theory that the supply of the electron acceptors is limited by the total mass released from the gasoline sources. Existing models do not include multicomponent dissolution from fuels and limitations in resupply of electron acceptors to depleted portions of the aquifer. Where these effects predominate, they create the dominant control on plume expansion and observed concentrations.

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT
Start Date:12/01/2001
Projected Completion Date:09/01/2006
OMB Category:Other
Record ID: 56123