Workshop # 11: State and Federal Workshop: Assessment, Remediation and Regulatory Issues for Unexploded Ordnance Contamination

Workshop #12: The Groundwater Sensitivity Tool Kit: California Research MTBE Partnership / American Petroleum Institute

In-situ chemical oxidation using either Fenton’s reagent, potassium permanganate, and ozone is an effective innovative technology for destroying organic contaminants within the groundwater aquifer where they occur. The technology will provide complete destruction of source material (NAPLs) as well as dissolved phase organics in groundwater to innocuous end products. In this workshop factors such as

will be covered through the discussion of case studies.

Presentations will be made by two vendors that supply equipment and oxidation chemicals, and by Harding ESE personnel who have directed successful projects using in situ chemical oxidation. Case studies will be presented (at least one each for Fenton’s Reagent and for Potassium Permanganate, and ozone) where specific design and operation issues will be discussed. Pros and Cons of the use of this remediation technology will also be discussed.

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) including chemical warfare materials and the associated environmental contamination resulting from their improper disposal and deterioration has become a significant regulatory issue especially at the state level. Numerous states have uncovered UXO's at non-active, former military sites some dating from the second and, even, the first world war. The technical knowledge base with respect to the types of chemicals encountered, their analyses, the risk posed to the human population and environment, and the characterization and remediation of those sites is only beginning to be realized. This workshop will bring together representatives from several states including California, Colorado and Massachusetts to present and discuss the regulatory approaches being developed in their states. In addition, experts from DoD and the Army Corp of Engineers will present an overview of the state-of-the-art of technical information for the identification, location and removal of UXOs as well as the analyses, environmental fate and risk determination for the associated environmental contamination. State and federal personnel can attend at no charge.

Experience shows that actual impacts on critical water supply resources have occurred at a relatively small number of sites, and these high-sensitivity sites demand a disproportionate percentage of public and private resources for assessment and remediation. However, practical, site-specific measures of groundwater sensitivity are currently not considered in the development of remediation goals, effectively treating low-risk and high-risk sites as equivalent concerns. This problem is magnified by the continually growing demands on available water resources and as concerns such MTBE place an increasing demand on available remediation/prevention dollars.

The California MTBE Research Partnership and the American Petroleum Institute are now collaborating on developing a standardized approach towards assessing vulnerability of drinking water aquifers to potential releases. The final product will be a software tool, the Groundwater Sensitivity Tool Kit, that will help regulators, industry personnel, and consultants evaluate three key factors associated with groundwater vulnerability: 1) resource value, 2) existing receptor vulnerability, and 3) natural sensitivity. This workshop will describe the philosophy and approach used by the California MTBE Research Partnership and API to develop the software, and show examples of how the software is applied at actual sites.