T.D. McCobb | USGS Science

USGS2009

Monitoring the removal of phosphate from ground water discharging through a pond-bottom permeable reactive barrier

Installation of a permeable reactive barrier to intercept a phosphate (PO 4 ) plume where it discharges to a pond provided an opportunity to develop and test methods for monitoring the barrier’s performance in the shallow pond‐bottom sediments. The barrier is composed of zero‐valent‐iron mixed with the native sediments to a 0.6‐m depth over a 1100‐m 2 area. Permanent suction, diffusion, and seepage samplers were installed to monitor PO 4 and other chemical species along vertical transects through the barrier and horizontal transects below and near the top of the barrier. Analysis of pore water sampled at about 3‐cm vertical intervals by using multilevel diffusion and suction samplers indicated steep decreases in PO 4 concentrations in ground water flowing upward through the barrier. Samples from vertically aligned pairs of horizontal multiport suction samplers also indicated substantial decreases in PO 4 concentrations and lateral shifts in the plume’s discharge area as a result of varying pond stage. Measurements from Lee‐style seepage meters indicated substantially decreased PO 4 concentrations in discharging ground water in the treated area; temporal trends in water flux were related to pond stage. The advantages and limitations of each sampling device are described. Preliminary analysis of the first 2 years of data indicates that the barrier reduced PO 4 flux by as much as 95%.

Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation↗

USGS2000

Delineation of discharge areas of two contaminant plumes by use of diffusion samplers, Johns Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1998

Diffusion samplers were installed in the bottom of Johns Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to confirm that volatile organic compounds from the Storm Drain-5 (SD-5) plume emanating from the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) were discharging into the pond. An array of 134 vapor-diffusion samplers was buried by divers about 0.5 feet below the pond bottom in the presumed discharge area of the SD-5 plume and left in place for about 2 weeks to equilibrate. Two areas of high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified. Samples from the first area contained trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene with concentrations in vapor as high as 890 and 667 parts per billion by volume, respectively. This discharge area is about 1,000 feet wide, extends from 100 to 350 feet offshore, and is interpreted to be the discharge area of the SD-5 plume. Samples from the second area were located closer to shore than the discharge area of the SD-5 plume and contained unexpectedly high vapor concentrations of TCE (more than 40,000 parts per billion by volume). Ground-water samples collected with a drive-point sampler near the second area had aqueous TCE concentrations as high as 1,100 micrograms per liter. Subsequently, a more closely spaced array of 110 vapor-diffusion samplers was installed to map the area of elevated TCE concentrations . The discharge area detected with the samplers is about 75 feet wide and extends from about 25 to 200 feet offshore . TCE vapor concentrations in this area were as high as 42,800 parts per billion by volume. TCE concentrations in micrograms per liter in water-diffusion samples from 15 selected sites in the two discharge areas were about 35 times lower than the TCE concentrations in parts per billion by volume in corresponding vapor-diffusion samples. The difference in values is due to the volatile nature of TCE and the different units of measure. TCE was detected in diffusion samplers set in the pond water column above the plume discharge areas, but the TCE concentrations were 20 to 30 times lower than the corresponding levels in diffusion samplers buried in the pond bottom.

Massachusetts↗