PNNL

Abstract

This paper provides a high-level review of bacterial transport experiments conducted by a multi-investigator, multi-institution, multi-disciplinary team of researchers under the auspices of the U. S. Department of Energy. The experiments considered were conducted during the time period 1999-2001 at a field site near the town of Oyster, Virginia known as the South Oyster Site, and included four major experimental campaigns aimed at understanding and quantifying bacterial transport in the subsurface environment. Several key elements of the research are discussed here: 1) Quantification of bacterial transport in physically and biogeochemically heterogeneous aquifers, 2) evaluation of the efficacy of conventional colloid filtration theory, 3) scale effects in bacterial transport, 4) development of new methods for microbial enumeration and screening for low adhesion strains, 5) application of novel hydrogeophysical techniques for aquifer characterization, and 6) experiences regarding management of a large field research effort.