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Prepublication Copy Alternatives for Managing the Nation’s Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites ADVANCE COPY NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BEFORE Thursday, November 8, 2012 At 11:00 a.m. EDT THIS PREPUBLICATION VERSION has been provided to facilitate timely access to the committee’s findings. Although the substance of the report is final, editorial changes may be made through the text prior to publication. The report will be available through the National Academies Press in 2012. Prepublication Copy Alternatives for Managing the Nation’s Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites Committee on Future Options for Management in the Nation’s Subsurface Remediation Effort Water Science and Technology Board Division on Earth and Life Studies THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington, D.C. www.nap.edu PREPUBLICATION COPY THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the panel responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by Contract Number W911SR-09-1-0004 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of the Army. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data or International Standard Book Number 0-309-0XXXX-X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 97-XXXXX Additional copies of this report are available for sale from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu. Copyright 2012 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. PREPUBLICATION COPY The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.nationalacademies.org PREPUBLICATION COPY COMMITTEE ON FUTURE OPTIONS FOR MANAGEMENT IN THE NATION’S SUBSURFACE REMEDIATION EFFORT* MICHAEL C. KAVANAUGH, Chair, Geosyntec, Oakland, California WILLIAM A. ARNOLD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis BARBARA D. BECK, Gradient, Cambridge, Massachusetts YU-PING CHIN, The Ohio State University, Columbus ZAID CHOWDHURY, Malcolm Pirnie, Phoenix, Arizona DAVID E. ELLIS, DuPont Engineering, Newark, Delaware TISSA H. ILLANGASEKARE, Colorado School of Mines, Golden PAUL C. JOHNSON, Arizona State University, Tempe MOHSEN MEHRAN, Rubicon Engineering, Irvine, California JAMES W. MERCER, Tetra Tech GEO, Sterling, Virginia KURT D. PENNELL, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts ALAN J. RABIDEAU, State University of New York, Buffalo ALLEN M. SHAPIRO, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia LEONARD M. SIEGEL, Center for Public Environmental Oversight, Mountain View, California WILLIAM J. WALSH, Pepper Hamilton LLP, Washington, DC NRC Staff LAURA J. EHLERS, Study Director STEPHANIE E. JOHNSON, Senior Staff Officer KERI SCHAFFER, Research Associate JEANNE AQUILINO, Senior Administrative Associate ELLEN DEGUZMAN, Research Associate, through June 2011 ANITA HALL, Senior Program Associate *Kevin J. Boyle, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, was a member of the Committee from February 2010 to June 2012. v PREPUBLICATION COPY WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BOARD DONALD I. SIEGEL, Chair, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York LIS A A LVARE Z-COHEN, University of California, Berkeley EDWARD J. BOUWER, Johns Hopkins University YU-PING CHIN, The Ohio State University, Columbus M. SIOBHAN FENNESSY, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio BEN GRUMBLES, Clean Water America Alliance, Washington, DC GEORGE R. HALLBERG, The Cadmus Group, Inc., Watertown, Massachusetts KENNETH R. HERD, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Brooksville GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee CATHERINE L. KLING, Iowa State University, Ames DEBRA S. KNOPMAN, The Rand Corporation, Washington, DC LARRY LARSON, Association of State Floodplain Managers, Madison, Wisconsin RITA P. MAGUIRE, Maguire & Pearce PLLC, Phoenix, Arizona DAVID H. MOREAU, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ROBERT SIMONDS, The Robert Simonds Company, Culver City, California FRANK H. STILLINGER, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey MARYLYNN V. YATES, University of California, Riverside JAMES W. ZIGLAR, SR., Van Ness Feldman, Washington, DC NRC Staff JEFFREY JACOBS, Director LAURA J. EHLERS, Senior Staff Officer LAURA J. HELSABECK, Senior Staff Officer STEPHANIE JOHNSON, Senior Staff Officer JEANNE AQUILINO, Financial and Administrative Associate ANITA HALL, Senior Program Associate MICHAEL STOEVER, Research Associate SARAH BRENNAN, Senior Program Assistant vi PREPUBLICATION COPY Preface Despite nearly 40 years of intensive efforts in the United States as well as in other industrialized countries worldwide, restoration of groundwater contaminated by releases of anthropogenic chemicals to a condition allowing for unrestricted use and unlimited exposure (UU/UE) remains a significant technical and institutional challenge. Recent (2004) estimates by EPA indicate that expenditures for soil and groundwater cleanup at over 300,000 sites through 2033 may exceed $200 billion (not adjusted for inflation), and many of these sites have experienced groundwater impacts. One dominant attribute of the nation’s efforts on subsurface remediation efforts has been lengthy delays between discovery of the problem and its resolution. Reasons for these extended timeframes are now well known: ineffective subsurface investigations, difficulties in characterizing the nature and extent of the problem in highly heterogeneous subsurface environments, remedial technologies that have not been capable of achieving restoration in many of these geologic settings, continued improvements in analytical detection limits leading to discovery of additional chemicals of concern, evolution of more stringent drinking water standards, and the realization that other exposure pathways, such as vapor intrusion, pose unacceptable health risks. A variety of administrative and policy factors also result in extensive delays, including, but not limited to, high regulatory personnel turnover, the difficulty in determining cost-effective remedies to meet cleanup goals, and allocation of responsibility at multiparty sites. Over the past decade, however, remedial technologies have shown increased effectiveness in removing contaminants from groundwater, and the use of more precise characterization tools and other diagnostic technologies have improved our ability to achieve site-specific remedial action objectives within a reasonable time frame at an increasing number of sites. For example, of the over 1,700 National Priority List sites, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deleted over 360 sites (as of March, 2012), including some that have reported