Multiyear Temporal Changes in Chlorinated Solvent Concentrations at 23 Monitored Natural Attenuation Sites |
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Authors: | Charles J Newell Iain Cowie Travis M McGuire Walt W McNab Jr |
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Affiliation: | 1Vice President, Groundwater Services, Inc., 2211 Norfolk, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77098 (corresponding author). E-mail: cjnewell@gsi-net.com 2Environmental Scientist, Groundwater Services, Inc., 2211 Norfolk, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77098. E-mail: idcowie@gsi-net.com 3Environmental Scientist, Groundwater Services, Inc., 2211 Norfolk, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77098. E-mail: tmmcguire@gsi-net.com 4Environmental Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA. E-mail: mcnab1@llnl.gov
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Abstract: | Long-term (e.g., 5–15 years) groundwater concentration versus time records were compiled from 47 near-source zone monitoring wells at 23 chlorinated solvent sites (52 total records). Chlorinated volatile organic compound (CVOC) concentrations decreased significantly in most of the 52 temporal records, with a median reduction in concentration of 74%. A statistical method based on a Mann–Kendall analysis also showed that most sites had statistically significant decreasing concentration trends over time. Median point decay rate constants (kpoint) values were calculated for nine sites containing tetrachloroethene (PCE); 13 sites containing trichloroethene (TCE); two sites containing cis-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE); and six sites containing 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA). The TCA sites had the highest kpoint values (0.34/year) followed by PCE, DCE, and TCE (0.23/year, 0.16/year, and 0.11/year, respectively) (equal to decay half-lives of 2.0, 3.0, 4.3, and 6.1 years, respectively). If the median point decay rates from these sites are maintained over a 20 year period, the resulting reduction in concentration will be similar to the reported reduction in source zone concentrations achieved by active in situ source remediation technologies (typical project length: 1–2 years). |
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Keywords: | Attenuation Chlorination TCE PCE Ground-water pollution Water treatment |
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