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Remediation of contaminated ground water: A status report of the National Research Council committee on ground-water cleanup alternatives

Conference · · Ground Water; (United States)
OSTI ID:5897256
 [1]
  1. Montgomery Watson, Inc., Walnut Creek, CA (United States)

Contamination of ground water is a common problem at most hazardous waste sites in the U.S. and worldwide. The traditional technology that has been used for restoration and cleanup of contaminated ground water is conventional pump-and-treat, consisting of the use of vertical extraction wells, the appropriate treatment technologies and reinjection, reuse, or disposal of the treated water. Data collected by various agencies over the past several years have indicated that the predicted success of conventional pump-treat for remediating contaminated ground water vastly underestimated the complexity of the problem. As a result, conventional pump-and-treat is under attack as a failed technology for achieving the regulatory driven objectives of remediating ground water to background or health-based standards. The apparent failure of pump-and-treat to achieve background or health-based cleanup standards has significant technical, economic, and public policy implications. Because of the concern over this development in remediation technologies, the National Research Council through the Board on Radioactive Waste Management and the Board on Water Science and Technology, have set up a committee to address the technical, economic, and public policy implications of the failure of conventional pump-and-treat to meet targeted objectives. This paper will present a brief summary on the key findings of the committee t date and discuss some of the policies recommendations that are currently being evaluated.

OSTI ID:
5897256
Report Number(s):
CONF-9310166--
Journal Information:
Ground Water; (United States), Journal Name: Ground Water; (United States) Vol. 31:5; ISSN GRWAAP; ISSN 0017-467X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English