Investigation and Management of Contaminated Groundwater
Abstract
Perchlorethylene (PCE) releases during the 1980s and 1990s from dry cleaning equipment at a textile dyeworks resulted in significant off-site groundwater contamination. A plume was tracked via a network of groundwater monitoring bores to a distance of 300 metres from the site. PCE and other volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons (breakdown products) had been transported by groundwater in a thin brecciated zone between two basalt flows at a depth of 7-14 metres. Regional-scale conceptual hydrogeological and contamination models and groundwater containment (pump and treat) trials enabled the development of a technically, regulatory and commercially acceptable solution to long-term management of the site.
Authors
Geoff Hotton, Brian Barnett & Ryan Morris