• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.1-35
• /
• 2007

In the last decades, the decrease in biological or chemical availability of sorbed contaminants as contact time passed, is generally accepted. This phenomenon so called as "aging" or "sequestration" is known to directly affect risk of the contaminats. This was observed for mainly for hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs), but also reported for heavy metals. Aging is known to be directly related to sorption-desorption hysteresis, irreversible sorption, desorption-resistance, nonequilibrium sorption, etc. The decrease in bioavailability due to aging or sequestration indicates realistic decrease in risk potential. Recently a risk-based management concept by scientific evidences but not the simple measurement of contaminant concentration has been attempted to determine environmentally acceptable remedial endpoint. This is because selection of remedial endpoint based on not total concentration but the bioavailability and toxicity of contaminants can reduce both the treatment cost and remedial activities of the contaminated sites. The bioavailability and toxicity of the residual contaminants are highly affected by the fate and transport and also directly affect the exposure pathways and bioaccumulation of contaminants in the living biota. In this paper, scientific feasibility on the risk-based clean-up and management of contaminated sites is reviewed.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.419-428
• /
• 2003

In order to evaluate groundwater movement and the infiltration of contaminants, such as petroleum products, the determination of porosity and effective porosity is very important. Porosity and effective porosity are important physical parameters that determine the transfer and movement of water and solutes in porous media. Various methods of determining these parameters have been developed, with varying degrees of accuracy and applicability. Most of the existing methods produce static results. They do not produce instantaneous and real time of porosity and effective porosity in a porous media. In this study, we used a new permittivity method called Frequency Domain Reflectometry with Vector analyzer (FDR-V) to determine the porosity and effective porosity of some sand samples in the laboratory. The advantage of the FDR-V method is that it instantaneously determines the temporal variation of dielectric constants of porous media. Then, the porosity and the effective porosity of porous media are computed using well established empirical equations. Results obtained from the FDR-V method compared favorably with results from other permittivity methods such as gravimetric, injection and replacement tests. The ratio of effective porosity to porosity was 85 - 92 %, when FDR-V was used. This value compared favourably with 90 %, which has been usually quoted in previous studies. Considering the convenience and its applicability, the EDR-V permittivity holds a great potential in porous media and contaminant transport studies.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2011.05a
• /
• pp.14-14
• /
• 2011

Groundwater in the Waikatoregion is a valuable resource for agriculture, water supply, forestry and industries. The 434,000 ha study area comprises the upper Waikato River catchment from the outflow of Lake Taupo (New Zealand's largest lake) through to Lake Karapiro (a man-made hydro lake with high recreational value) (Figure 1). Water quality in the area is naturally high. However, there are indications that this quality is deteriorating as a result of land use intensification and deforestation. Compounding this concern for decision makers is the lag time between land use changes and the realisation of effects on groundwater and surface water quality. It is expected that the effects of land use changes have not yet fully manifested, and additional intensification may take decadesto fully develop, further compounding the deterioration. Consequently, Environment Waikato (EW) have proposed a programme of work to develop a groundwater model to assist managing water quality and appropriate policy development within the catchment. One of the most important and critical decisions of any modelling exercise is the choice of the modelling platform to be used. It must not inhibit future decision making and scenario exploration and needs to allow as accurate representation of reality as feasible. With this in mind, EW requested that two modelling platforms, MODFLOW/MT3DMS and FEFLOW, be assessed for their ability to deliver the long-term modelling objectives for this project. The two platforms were compared alongside various selection criteria including complexity of model set-up and development, computational burden, ease and accuracy of representing surface water-groundwater interactions, precision in predictive scenarios and ease with which the model input and output files could be interrogated. This latter criteria is essential for the thorough assessment of predictive uncertainty with third-party software, such as PEST. This paper will focus on the attributes of each modelling platform and the comparison of the two approaches against the key criteria in the selection process. Primarily due to the ease of handling and developing input files and interrogating output files, MODFLOW/MT3DMS was selected as the preferred platform. Other advantages and disadvantages of the two modelling platforms were somewhat balanced. A preliminary regional groundwater numerical model of the study area was subsequently constructed. The model simulates steady state groundwater and surface water flows using MODFLOW and transient contaminant transport with MT3DMS, focussing on nitrate nitrogen (as a conservative solute). Geological information for this project was provided by GNS Science. Professional peer review was completed by Dr. Vince Bidwell (of Lincoln Environmental).

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2015.05a
• /
• pp.227-227
• /
• 2015

The Wairarapa Valley occupies a predominantly rural area in the lower North Island of New Zealand. It supports a mix of intensive farming (dairy), dry stock farming (sheep and beef cattle) and horticulture (including wine grapes). The valley floor is traversed by the Ruamahanga River, the largest river in the Wellington region with a total catchment area of 3,430 km2. Environmental, cultural and recreational values associated with this Ruamahanga River are very high. The alluvial gravel and sand aquifers of the Wairarapa Valley, support productive groundwater aquifers at depths of up to 100 metres below ground while the Ruamahanga River and its tributaries present a further source of water for users. Water is allocated to users via resource consents by Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). With intensifying land use, demand from the surface and groundwater resources of the Wairarapa Valley has increased substantially in recent times and careful management is needed to ensure values are maintained. This paper describes the approach being taken to manage water resources in the Wairarapa Valley and redefine appropriate limits of sustainable water use. There are three key parts: Quantifying the groundwater resource. A FEFLOW numerical groundwater flow model was developed by GWRC. This modelling phase provided a much improved understanding of aquifer recharge and abstraction processes. It also began to reveal the extent of hydraulic connection between aquifer and river systems and the importance of moving towards an integrated (conjunctive) approach to allocating water. Development of a conjunctive management framework. The FEFLOW model was used to quantify the stream flow depletion impacts of a range of groundwater abstraction scenarios. From this, three abstraction categories (A, B and C) that describe diminishing degrees of hydraulic connection between ground and surface water resources were mapped in 3 dimensions across the Valley. Interim allocation limits have been defined for each of 17 discrete management units within the valley based on both local scale aquifer recharge and stream flow depletion criteria but also cumulative impacts at the valley-wide scale. These allocation limits are to be further refined into agreed final limits through a community-led decision making process. Community involvement in the limit setting process. Historically in New Zealand, limits for sustainable resource use have been established primarily on the basis of 'hard science' and the decision making process has been driven by regional councils. Community involvement in limit setting processes has been through consultation rather than active participation. Recent legislation in the form of a National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (2011) is reforming this approach. In particular, collaborative consensus-based decision making with active engagement from stakeholders is now expected. With this in mind, a committee of Wairarapa local people with a wide range of backgrounds was established in 2014. The role of this committee is to make final recommendations about resource use limits (including allocation of water) that reflect the aspirations of the communities they represent. To assist the committee in taking a holistic view it is intended that the existing numerical groundwater flow models will be coupled with with surface flow, contaminant transport, biological and economic models. This will provide the basis for assessing the likely outcomes of a range of future land use and resource limit scenarios.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.3-21
• /
• 1997

The remediation of contamiated sites using currently available remediation technologies requires long term treatment and huge costs, and it is uncertain to achieve the remediation goal to drop contamination level to either back-ground or health-based standards by using such technologies. Intrinsic remediation technology is the remediation technology that relies on the mechanisms of natural attenuation for the containment and elimination of contaminants in subsurface environments. Initial costs for the intrinsic remediation may be higher than conventional treatment technologies because the most comprehensive site assessment for intrinsic remediation is required. Total remediation cost, however may be the lowest among the presently employed technologies. The applicability of intrinsic remediation in the contaminated sites should be theroughly investigated to achieve the remedial goal of the technology. This paper provides the frame of the extended site assessment procedure based on knowledge of biodegradability to evaluate the applicability of intrinsic remediation. This site assessment procedure is composed of 5 steps such as preliminary site screening, assessment of the current knowledge of biodegradability, selecting the appropriate approach, analyzing the contaminant fate and transport and planning the monitoring schedule. In the step 1, followings are to be decided 1) whether to go on the the detailed assessment or not based on the rules of thumb concerning the biodegradability of organic compounds, 2) which protocol document is selected to follow for detailed site assessment according to the site characteristics, contaminants and the relative distance between the contamination and potential receptors. In the step 2, the database for biodegradability are searched and evaluated. In the step 3, the appropriate biodegradability pathways for the contaminated site is selected. In the step 4, the fate and transport of the contaminants at the site are analyzed through modeling. In the step 5, the monitoring schedule is planned according to the result of the modeling. Through this procedure, users may able to have the rational and systematic informations for the application of intrinsic remediation. Also the collected data and informations can be used as the basic to re-select the other remediation technology if it reaches a conclusion not to applicate intrinsic remediation technology at the site from the site assessment procedure.