PNNL

Abstract

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is a prevalent remediation approach for volatile contaminants in the vadose zone. To support selection of an appropriate endpoint for the SVE remedy, an evaluation is needed to determine whether vadose zone contamination has been diminished sufficiently to protect groundwater. When vapor-phase transport is an important component of the overall contaminant fate and transport from a vadose zone source, the contaminant concentration expected in groundwater is controlled by a limited set of parameters, including specific site dimensions, vadose zone properties, and source characteristics. An approach was developed for estimating the contaminant concentration in groundwater resulting from a contaminant source in the vadose zone based on pre-modeling contaminant transport for a matrix of parameter value combinations covering a range of potential site conditions. An interpolation and scaling process are then applied to estimate groundwater impact for site-specific conditions.