Evaluation of Containment Systems Using Hydraulic Head Data

Subsurface vertical barriers have been used as components of containment systems to prevent or reduce the impact of contaminant sources on ground-water resources. A better understanding of the hydraulic head distribution associated with vertical barriers can enhance the ability of existing performance monitoring systems to detect breaches in physical containment systems and may aid in the design of new performance monitoring systems. Given the current regulatory interest in containment systems as either supplemental or stand-alone remedial alternatives and the lack of adequate performance monitoring strategies at most existing hazardous waste sites utilizing vertical barrier technologies, there is an immediate need for general guidelines for determining whether a containment system is functioning as intended. This technical note describes an approach for evaluating the performance of containment systems, based on relative spatial and temporal hydraulic head distributions.