Multiyear Temporal Changes in Chlorinated Solvent Concentrations at 23 Monitored Natural Attenuation Sites
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 6
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 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 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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Acknowledgments
Funding for this project was provided by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). The writers would also like to thank Pierre Lacombe of USGS and I. Richard Schaffner of GZA for providing site data.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 6 • June 2006
Pages: 653 - 663
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 22, 2004
Accepted: Oct 5, 2005
Published online: Jun 1, 2006
Published in print: Jun 2006
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