Groundwater Remediation
Clean water is necessary for life and health! Groundwater in its natural state is free of pollutants and pathogens and is thus an essential element of our drinking water supply. For this reason, measures to prevent the contamination of ground water are extremely important.
In many areas, anthropogenic pollution has resulted in large scale contamination because its effects exceed the natural purification capacity provided by soil layers and the aquifer itself. The resultant necessary purification of contaminated groundwater is a technologically complex and expensive process.
Knowledge of the geological and hydrological underground conditions and the dissemination characteristics of the pollutants are necessary to evaluate the risk posed by contaminated aquifers. There are two basic types of purification techniques: "in situ" and "ex situ". In the first, the water is treated in the aquifer itself, while in the second method the groundwater is first pumped out for treatment. Depending on the nature of the pollutants, biological, physical/chemical or thermal techniques can be employed for decontamination.
The example projects presented on the CPG internet platform show experiments with and experience obtained using various decontamination methods which have been employed with success, also in model sites in the former East Germany, such as:
• circulation wells for in situ groundwater purification,
• UV degradation and electron radiation used for the mineralisation of organic chlorine and aromatic compounds in groundwater,
• air injection wells for the activation of self-regulating ground water stripping
and
• a combined process involving activated charcoal adsorption and simultaneous bioregeneration to eliminate volatile chlorinated, aromatic and chloroaromatic hydrocarbons.
Bilateral cooperation between the BMBF and the U.S. EPA; phase II: development and testing of monitoring standards for contaminated sites in the course of German/American cooperation for the clean-up of contaminated land
Biological processes in a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) with Fe0: evaluation of long-term behaviour of a Fe0-reactive wall, using the Rheine site as an example (Part 17)
Construction and optimisation of passive geochemical barriers for the in-situ restoration and protection of CFC-contaminated aquifers
Continued examination completing the development and testing of an process to treat acid mine waters
Development of industrial solutions for the clean-up of groundwater pollution downstream of the sedimentation basins of uranium ore dressing installations by the use of permeable reactive walls
Exemplary pollutant-dependent integrated multi-component reorganization of large-area industrial fallows