Comprehensive Environmental Investigation at Former Industrial/Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Sites in Long Beach,CA: A Forensic Perspective

Two industrial sites were investigated based on years of available hydrogeologic information and monitoring data for soil and groundwater. Collected data were forensically evaluated using age-dating and fingerprinting methods. The previous business uses of the project sites were as a gas station, laundry/dry-cleaning service, and car wash with petroleum underground storage tanks (USTs). As a result, these sites were exposed to a number of toxic contaminants at relatively high concentrations. Source control was necessary for successful remediation and the ultimate removal of the remaining compounds from these industrial sites. Although contaminated soil around the source was excavated during the remedial action and the high concentrations of contaminants were reduced, typical groundwater contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons as gasoline (TPH-G), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX), and oxygenates including methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), diisopropyl ether (DIPE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME), and tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) were persistently found at the studied sites around the source points. The plume and concentration of contaminants had changed their shapes and strength for all monitoring periods. Thus, additional source control seems to be a requirement for the complete removal of source contamination, which must be ascertained with groundwater and soil monitoring on a regular time base. For the study sites, monitored natural attenuation was relatively feasible for the long-term plan; however, it did not offer a perfect remediation solution for an ultimate goal because of residual toxic compounds that might have affected the surrounding residential areas at higher concentrations than their health limits. Therefore, as a remediation strategy, the combination of clean-up technology and natural attenuation with monitoring activities are more highly recommended than either clean-up or natural attenuation used separately.     

Assessment of Aquifer Vulnerability in an Agricultural Area in Spain Using the DRASTIC Model

The assessment of aquifer vulnerability is a very important task, especially in agricultural areas because the quality and availability of groundwater affects both the sustainability of agriculture and the quality of life. In this study, an integrated approach is considered, with the use of the generic and agricultural DRASTIC models as well as a geographic information system (GIS), to assess groundwater vulnerability in the agricultural area of Barrax, in the province of Albacete, in Spain. Seven parameters—depth to water, net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, topography, impact of vadose zone media, and hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer (DRASTIC)—have been considered as weighted layers to enable an accurate groundwater risk mapping. The results of the generic DRASTIC model indicated very low vulnerability to contamination for Barrax groundwater due to limited urban and industrial development in the wider area. However, agricultural activities impose pressure to groundwater resources and the results of the agricultural DRASTIC model show that 6.86% of the study area is characterized by very high, 2.29% by high, 47.28% by medium, 38.28% by low, and the remaining 5.29% by no vulnerability to groundwater contamination. The distribution of nitrate concentration in groundwater in the area under study is quite well correlated with the agricultural DRASTIC vulnerability index. Sensitivity analysis was also performed to acknowledge statistical uncertainty in the estimation of each parameter used, to assess its impact, and thus to identify the most critical parameters that require further investigation. Depth to water and impact of vadose zone are the parameters that had the most noticeable impact on the generic DRASTIC vulnerability index followed by the soil media and topography. In contrast, the agricultural DRASTIC method is more sensitive to the removal of the depth to water parameter followed by the topography and the soil media parameters.     

泥炭保护紫花苜蓿根系对柴油污染土壤修复的研究

采用盆栽试验,观察了泥炭保护根系移栽和直播2种栽培方式处理的紫花苜蓿在柴油污染土壤中的生长情况及其对土壤中柴油污染物的去除情况,探讨了利用泥炭保护根系措施清除土壤柴油污染物的可行性.结果表明,泥炭保护根系处理有利于紫花营蓿根系形态发育,能促进根系细菌和真菌的繁殖,并显著提高根区土壤柴油降解率.     

铁屑去除酸法地浸采铀地下水中硝酸盐的试验研究

在酸法地浸采铀过程中,硝酸及硝酸盐的广泛使用使硝酸盐在地下不断累积并扩散到地下水中,这给矿区地下水造成了一定程度的污染.本试验以铁屑为还原剂,对该地下水中NO3--N的去除进行了批试验和动态试验研究.试验结果表明,铁屑可有效去除地下水中的NO3--N,其去除率随pH值的降低而逐渐升高;溶液中共存的Ca2 、Mg2 对NO3--N的去除影响不大,而SO42-、HCO3-的存在可明显降低NO3--N去除率;铁屑最佳投加量为120 g/L,铁炭最佳体积比为1∶1;二级柱可以明显提高柱子的稳定运行时间,在55 h内NO3--N去除率可保持在93%以上,去除效果较好.     

环保疏浚底泥干化技术研究

环保疏浚过程中产生的大量污染底泥堆放在底泥堆场,不能快速干化,长时间占用土地资源,增加工程投资。在总结分析国内外环保疏浚底泥干化技术的基础上,系统地介绍不同底泥干化技术及其应用现状,并分析存在的问题,探讨了今后的发展趋势。     

潜流人工湿地去除大庆地区湖泊水体中石油类化合物的研究

针对大庆地区石油类化合物污染湖泊水质特点和气候条件,采用包含砾石床、砾石芦苇床、炉渣芦苇床和炉渣床单元的现场试验系统,考察启动期、投加微生物、投加缓释碳源、水温低于5℃和常规运行期等工况下各单元对石油类化合物的去除效果及其去除机理.在整个试验期内4个单元石油类化合物的平均去除率分别为24.7％、28.4％、45.9％和42.9％;投加微生物和缓释碳源都可提高石油类化合物污染物的去除效果;以炉渣为填料的单元污染物去除效果显著优于以砾石为填料的单元.2005年常规运行期间,湿地床和对照床石油类化合物去除率存在显著性差异（p<0.05）,植物对石油类化合物的去除起到显著的促进作用.系统运行期内通过截留去除的石油类化合物占总去除量70％左右,各单元该比例没有显著性差异（p<0.05）.     

模糊评价法在沧州市区地下水脆弱性评价中的应用

以DRASTIC模型为基础,建立了评价含水层污染性难易程度的模糊分析理论与方法,并将其应用于沧州市区地下水系统脆弱性评价。评价结果从趋势上反映了沧州市区地下水受污染的难易程度,与市区地下水污染现状吻合较好。     

铁炭复配修复地下水中NO_3~--N的条件研究

采用了铁炭复配修复地下水中NO3--N,探讨了实验条件对修复效果的影响。结果表明,在pH值近中性条件(初始pH 6.42)下,反应时间为1 h时NO3--N修复率达到60.85%;Fe/C=1∶1时介质最佳用量分别为4~5 g;Fe/C=1/1.5时修复率为72.80%;反应速率在高振荡强度下大于低振荡强度;氧化铜的催化效果最好,可使修复率提高7.5个百分点。铁炭复配介质修复地下水中NO3--N是有效可行的,修复率随反应时间的增加而提高,在Fe/C=1∶1时修复率与介质用量呈正相关,无限减小Fe/C比并不能无限提高修复率,振荡强度对修复具有显著影响,低振荡强度下的修复过程较高强度存在滞后现象,并非所有金属氧化物催化剂对铁炭修复NO3--N均有促进作用。     

Inferring coastal processes from regional-scale mapping of Radon and salinity: examples from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The radon isotope ²²²Rn and salinity in coastal surface water were mapped on regional scales, to improve the understanding of coastal processes and their spatial variability. Radon was measured with a surface-towed, continuously recording multi-detector setup on a moving vessel. Numerous processes and locations of land-ocean interaction along the Central Great Barrier Reef coastline were identified and interpreted based on the data collected. These included riverine fluxes, terrestrially-derived fresh submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and the tidal pumping of seawater through mangrove forests. Based on variations in the relationship of the tracers radon and salinity, some aspects of regional freshwater inputs to the coastal zone and to estuaries could be assessed. Concurrent mapping of radon and salinity allowed an efficient qualitative assessment of land-ocean interaction on various spatial and temporal scales, indicating that such surveys on coastal scales can be a useful tool to obtain an overview of SGD locations and processes.     

Radium geochemistry in Na-Cl type groundwater in Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Radium isotopes in 23 Na-Cl type groundwater sampled mainly from deep wells in Niigata Prefecture, which is the site of the largest oil- and gas-fields in Japan, were measured along with U isotopes, chemical components and hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios to elucidate the distribution and behavior of Ra in a brackish environment underground. Also analyzed were U and Th isotopes in 38 rock samples collected from outcrops at 17 locations. Ra-226 concentrations (8.86-1637 mBq kg⁻¹) of groundwater samples roughly correlated with total dissolved solid (TDS) concentrations and other alkaline earth contents. Their ²²⁸Ra/²²⁶Ra activity ratios (0.32-5.2) were similar to or higher than the ²³²Th/²³⁸U activity ratios (0.6-1.7) in the rocks. The most likely transport mechanism of Ra isotopes into groundwater was due to their α-recoil from the solid phase, probably from the water-rock interface where Th isotopes had accumulated, and adsorption/desorption reaction based on the increase in ²²⁶Ra contents with TDS.