 Water- 70% of earth’s surface

 Many uses
 Increasing water shortages- depletion of
aquifers, lack of rain, mismanagement, river
diversion
 Highlighted under Water and Sanitation
 Development and construction of
impermeable surfaces
 Compacted surface layers
 Soil pore water and aquifer contamination
 Groundwater harvesting
Water uses
◦ Leaking sewer systems (up to 40%)
◦ Geothermal energy
 Hydrogeology of site for direction and
movement of contaminants
 Monitoring wells and soil sampling
 Remote sensing
 Analytical techniques – AA, GC-MS, LC-MS,
ICP-AES, ICP-MS,
 Biomonitoring
 Isolation and containment
 Extraction treatment
 Chemical treatment
 Biological treatments
 Electrokinetics
 Natural attenuation
 Enhanced natural attenuation
 In situ barriers
 Passive control to minimize contaminant
transport
 Migration of leachate can cause contaminants
to enter groundwater
 From groundwater, can go to surface water
 Containment to control flow of hydrologic
paths
 Not recommended for high levels of
contamination
 Can be used with other controls
 Includes subsurface vertical barriers to
contain contamination and redirect flow
 Cutoff walls include
◦ cutoff walls (soil-bentonite, cement-bentonite,
plastic concrete)
◦ grout curtains (cement-based or chemical grouts)
◦ steel sheet piling
 Vertical barriers inhibit flow of clean
groundwater into site by placing upflow
 Used with pump and treat systems
 Can also provide control during construction
of excavation, for waste treatment, waste
removal and liner systems
 Can completely surround waste
 If upgradient and downgradient barriers, can
recover contaminants
 Downgradient barriers to flush contaminants
from site

 Aids pump and treat processes

 Vertical barriers embedded in to low

permeability material underneath

 If contaminant is light and floats on top then

it can be hung
 Contaminant transport done by specifying
hydraulic conductivity of 1 x 10-7 cm/s or less
 Conductivity used since this is slowest that
can be reasonably and economically achieved
 10-6 to 10- 5 cm/sec may be suitable in some
cases
 In other cases barriers may be unsuitable,
particularly if contaminants in fractured
bedrock underneath
 Example 16-1 to calculate permeability of
barrier
 If account for advective and diffusive flow and
other soil-contaminant interactions,
breakthrough of contaminants can be
determined

 Ex. Carbon tetrachloride at interior

concentration of 1 mg/L , breakthrough of 2
years in soil-bentonite wall

 If fly ash composite used breakthrough was

30 years
 Soil-bentonite slurry walls most common
 called slurry wall because of method of
construction
 Trench excavated using viscous slurry of
bentonite (4-6%) and water (95%) to maintain
stability
 Bentonite is sodium montmorillonite clay
 Excavation made in the slurry-filled trench
and walls are vertical
 Excavations can be to 100 ft
 Placing backfill second part of process
 After trench is completed then slurry
displaced with backfill (1% bentonite with
natural fines up to 4 to 5%
 Permeability of backfill usually 10-7 to 10-8
cm/sec and linked to content of fines more
than bentonite content
 Defects in wall from
◦ freezing/thawing
◦ wetting/drying
◦ dessication of backfill
◦ chemical incompatibility caused by infiltration of
contaminants
 Slurry composed of water , cement, bentonite
 Slurry left of harden in trench
 One step process
 Can have permeabilities of 10-7 cm/sec but
usually 10-5 to 10-6 cm/sec
 Cement/water ratio of 0.15 to 0.25
 Mixture of cement, bentonite, water,
aggregate unlike cement-bentonite which
does not include aggregate and has a higher
water content
 Plastic concrete placed in slurry filled trench
usually excavated in panels
 can be done to depths of 160 ft
 Low hydraulic conductivity of 10-7 cm/sec
 Shear strength stronger than soil-bentonite
or cement-bentonite and more costly
 Deepest wall was at 200 ft
 Trench excavated by bentonite-water
slurry for trench stability
 Excavated in panels (20 ft long)
 Steel reinforcement in bentonite-water
slurry
 Slurry displaced by pump by tremi method
 Can be used when structural earth
retention system
 Hydraulic conductivity of 10-8 cm/sec
 For horizontal control of contaminant
migration
 Grouting method where vibratory ile driver
advanced a H-beam into subsurface
 Pile contains injection nozzles at tip
 During driving grout injected to lubricate pile
 When beam removed, void left
 Void then filled with grout pumped through
injection nozzles and beam removed
 Beam penetrations overlapped
 Thickness is 2 to 3 in
 Slurry can be cement-bentonite or
bituminous grout
 Contaminated materials do not need to be
excavated as in trench methods
 Cut-off wall is thin
 Location of beam tip uncertain
 Deep penetration difficult
 Vertical barriers for groundwater flow
 Developed in Japan but used in US
 Special auger mixing shaft for rotation in
ground with injection of bentonite and water
or cement, bentonite and water slurry
 Multiple mixing shafts
 Wall 20 to 36 in wide and overlapped
 1% bentonite used
 Similar to vibrating method
 Hydraulic conductivity of 10-7 cm/sec
 Composite cut-off walls
 Walls from a combination of materials
 Low hydraulic conductivity and increased
contaminant resistance
 Two types used
 Geomembrane sheet on installation frame
and lowered into trench, disconnected from
frame and frame withdrawn
 Geomembrane sheet pulled using weights on
bottom
 Placement of membrane in slurry trench cut-
off decreases permeability by two orders of
magnitude
 if geomembrane sheets are joined,
permeability reduced by 4 to 5 orders of
magnitude
 Geomembrane necessary if soil-bentonite
subject to wetting-drying as in above water
table
 Limited to excavated soils
 Installed in rock by pressure injection into
pores and fractures
 Grout gels or sets and result in low
permeable material
 Resistance of grout to attack by chemicals
depends on compatability and nature of
contaminants
 Ground water control
 Like vertical barriers
 Horizontal barriers for control of downward
migration of DNAPL in pumping systems
 Landfill liners widely used
 Grouted liner systems
 Grout injected along a linear alignment and at
the desired depth
 Uses principles of hydraulic fracturing by
exceeding pressures at site
 High pressures used to fracture soil and
grout pumped to fracture
 Energy input for control and containment of
migration of contaminants
 Pump and treat
 Electrokinetics
 In situ bioremediation
 Soil washing
 Pump and treat
 For treatment of contaminated groundwater
 Groundwater extracted by recovery wells, well
points or tile collection systems
 Extracted water treated by water treatment
methods such as air stripping, carbon
adsorption, biological treatment for organics
or physical chemical methods for inorganics
 Many limitations for techniques
 Monitoring shows initial decrease in
contaminant concentration followed by
decreasing rate of contaminant
concentrations
 May take years to decrease concentrations
 Love Canal operating for more than 10 years
 Drain tile collection system or French drain
 Love Canal is example
 Continuous trench in subsurface with
collecting piping and filter media
 Continuous nature allows water flow around
sand seams, root holes, buried conduits, etc,
that have been filled in
 Good for heterogeneous subsurface
 If contaminant floating, may only require
shallow interception of groundwater
 Drain tile installed at Love Canal since used
as interceptor for migration
 used as hydraulic barrier
 Means of extraction of groundwater and
contaminant
 Can capture plume that has migrated beyond
collection system
 Treatment wells limited costly and time
consuming to install, operate and maintain
 Groundwater can move past barrier even with
close wells
 Drain tile collection costly and dangerous to
install since excavation needed
 Biopolymer slurry trench -continuous
subsurface drains installed quickly, and
inexpensively
 Slurry trench method used by excavating under
slurry to maintain stability
 In biopolymer drain techniques , slurry by
mixture of biodegradable material (ground guar
beans), additives to extend life and water
 Additives to intiate enzyme activity and enhance
degradation of slurry carbohydrates
 Groundwater extracted from trench by well
casings lowered into trench
 Gravel maintains position
 Horizontal drain pipes can be installed
 Soil flushing for contaminated soil
 Injection of water, aqueous extraction agents,
solvent or air
 Soil washing for excavated soil
 Electro-osmosis -means of controlling
groundwater flow by application of voltage
difference
 Chemical constituents also move in response
to chemical potentials
 Water and dissolved constituents move due to
hydraulic gradients
 Electrokinetics coupling of electrical, chemical
and hydraulic gradients to affect contaminant
removal
http://www.frtr.gov/matrix2/se
ction4/D01-4-4.html
 For in situ remediation of contaminated
groundwater
 Chemical treatment by activated carbon or
ion exchange resins
 Plugging and contact time important
considerations
 Also called funnel and gate systems
 Emerging technology in the last few years
 Installation of impermeable barriers
downgradient to direct water through porous
reactive gates with the impermeable barrier
 Most of work done by University of Waterloo
 Permeable material filling a trench
 Contaminant removed by air stripping,
biodegradation, adsorption or metal-
enhanced dechlorination
 Residence time in days
 Removal efficiencies can be about 100%
 Air sparging can be more cost effective if
geology is homogeneous and permeable
 Funnels (cut-off walls) including sheet pile
walls or slurry walls
 Gate can be nonreactive materials such as
pea gravel for air sparging or oyster shells for
biodegradation or reactive materials such as
activated carbon or iron
 Small reactors used and can be replaced
 air stripping or volatilization,
 microbial degradation,
 adsorption,
 chemical oxidation,
 metal enhanced dechlorination
 metal precipitation
 can use series of gates for diffferent reactions
 depend on geologic and hydrogeologic
conditions, type, concentrations and
distribution of contaminants
 System geometry
 Funnel width and angle
 Gate width
 Gate permeability
 Need to protect water since highly important
 Water distribution is changing
 Remediation technology choice and
implementation is important
 Proper management at all levels is important