Groundwater Contamination: DOD Uses and Develops a Range of Remediation Technologies to Clean Up Military Sites

Resource Information

The work Groundwater Contamination: DOD Uses and Develops a Range of Remediation Technologies to Clean Up Military Sites represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Boston University Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Groundwater Contamination: DOD Uses and Develops a Range of Remediation Technologies to Clean Up Military Sites

Contributor

• GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC

Subject

• Adsorption
• Biodegradation
• Biological contamination
• Chemical cleaning
• Chemical contamination
• Cost effectiveness
• Decontamination
• Department of defense
• Extraction
• Field tests
• Ground water
• Hydrology, Limnology and Potamology
• Ion exchange
• Methodology
• Military facilities
• Oxidation
• Toxic hazards
• Vaporization
• Water Pollution and Control
• Water pollution
• Water pollution abatement
• Water treatment

Language

eng

Summary

To date, the Department of Defense (DoD) has identified nearly 6,000 sites at its facilities that require groundwater remediation and has invested $20 billion over the past 10 years to clean up these sites. In the past, DoD primarily used pump-and-treat technologies to contain or eliminate hazardous contaminants in groundwater. However, the long cleanup times and high costs of using pump-and-treat technologies often make them expensive and ineffective for groundwater remediation. As directed by Public Law 108-375 and as agreed, GAO did the following: (1) described current DoD groundwater remediation technologies; and (2) examined whether any new technologies are being used or developed outside the department that may have potential for DoD's use, and the extent to which DoD is researching and developing new approaches to groundwater remediation. DoD has implemented or field-tested all of the 15 types of generally accepted technologies currently available to remediate contaminated groundwater, including several alternatives to pump-and-treat technologies. Some of these technologies, such as bioremediation, introduce nutrients or other materials into the subsurface to stimulate microorganisms in the soil; these microorganisms consume the contaminant or produce byproducts that help break down contaminants into nontoxic or less-hazardous materials. DoD selects the most suitable technology for a given site on the basis of several factors, such as the type of contaminant and location in the subsurface, and the relative cost-effectiveness of a technology for a given site. DoD has identified a number of contaminants of concern at its facilities, each of which varies in its susceptibility to treatment. GAO did not identify any alternative groundwater remediation technologies being used or developed outside DoD that the department has not considered or used

Cataloging source

DTICE

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction