Rehabilitation of groundwater

Rehabilitation of groundwater 3.1.6.1 Reduction of nitrate with methanol... 

Rehabilitation of Groundwater Removal of Soluble Petroleum Constituents through Soil Application... 

There are a number of Issues associated with remediation of contaminated sites that are currently under debate in the technical community. The most important of these, the impractlcallty of total remediation, was stated as early as 1980 by the U.S. Geological Survey (SI) in the following way "deterioration in [groundwater] quality constitutes a permanent loss of water resource because treatment of the water or rehabilitation of the aquifers is presently generally impractical." This point has been re-stated in more recent commentaries (B, IB, IS)j and the issues of feasibility, cost, contaminant, prioritization, and overall approach to remediation remain. This Important debate will continue as more is learned about both the limitations and successes of remediation technology. 

Already upon addition of small amounts of methanol (<1 mmol/L) a significant decomposition of N03 to N2 occurs, the pE being in the oxidizing range (12 to 14). With 1.345 mmol/L methanol, the nitrate concentration decreases from 1.614 mmol/L to 0.155 pmol/L N(5) by more than 4 orders of magnitude. If the addition is further increased, the pE value drops notably (pE approx. -2) and N2 is further reduced to NH4+, which is an undesirable side effect for the groundwater rehabilitation. 

In a letter to Dow management of March 11, 2002, the survivors wrote in follow-up to conversations with the management requesting that the company address the needs of survivors that remain substantially unmet, including cleanup of the site and groundwater, medical monitoring of survivors, further economic compensation and economic rehabilitation for those whose livelihoods are impaired by injury, and social support for widows and orphaned children. 

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