Groundwater Remediation

The cleanup of hazardous-waste sites with groundwater contamination is a major element of professional hydrogeology in the United States. It is likely that every professional hydrogeologist will work on a groundwater remediation project at some point in his or her career. The long-term remediation of these sites is largely governed by 1980’s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund program. States often have similar regulatory programs to address sites not listed on the National Priorities List (NPL), such as the Massachusetts Contingency Plan. To the general public, invoking the term Superfund conjures up images of burning rivers, rusted 55-gallon drums leaking ¡uorescent ¡uids on the ground, contaminated wells, and mutated aquatic life. While in many instances these stereotyped attributes (mutations aside) are, in fact, accurate, often the perception of contamination is just as important as the actual data dening the nature and extent of the contamination, and the risks associated with any existing or potential exposures to the contamination [i.e., the Conceptual Site Model (CSM)]. Similarly, the perception of environmental cleanup is often more important than rigorous quantication of the costs and true environmental, social, and economic benets of complicated remediation projects. This is discussed further in Section 8.5 in the context of sustainable remediation, a very important emerging concept.