Radon at Home
Radon-222 is a radioactive gas that is present in all homes and found in several million homes in the U.S. at levels that have medical experts concerned about its potential to cause lung...
Monitoring for Hazardous Waste Leaks
It is safer and cheaper to keep hazardous wastes out of the groundwater and the ground than to remove them. But better monitoring will be required. In this three-part article, the first...
A Clean Up in Slow Motion
Eight years have passed since contamination was first discovered at the Valley Wood Preserving plant in Turlock, Calif. Though severe chromium contamination continues to travel toward...
Managing Dioxin
Dioxins, among the most toxic compounds known to man, are by-products from production of other chemical products. There are currently about 5000 metric tons of dioxin-containing wastes...
Regulations Target Underground Tanks
When Congress passed the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984, (RCRA), underground storage tanks were considered to be a major threat to the country's water supplies....
A Flood in the Desert
Since 1982 the Great Salt Lake has risen from an elevation of 4,200 ft above mean sea level to a historic high of 4,211.85 ft in June 1986. The sharp rise in the lake has caused considerable...
Waves in the Water Works
The 1986 amendments to the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act are far reaching laws that may affect many drinking water utilities across the nation in the next decade. Congress passed legislation...
A Watery Grave
Subseabed disposal may be the most acceptable means of dealing with radioactive wastes. Land disposal sites are difficult to find and politically difficult to use. Little research has...
Taking Water to Market
If the West is to enjoy continued population growth and economic development, huge volumes of water must be switched from farming to municipal uses. A free market in water will encourage...
Extent of Ground Water Contamination in the U.S.: An Overview
The contamination of ground water may result from all aspects of human activities: agriculture, industry, transportation, domestic wastes and resource exploitation. The contamination due...
Engineering Aspects of Point Versus Nonpoint Sources of Groundwater Pollution
Pollution of groundwater may occur due to a number of sources. These may be categorized into point and nonpoint sources of contamination. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues...
Survey of Groundwater Contamination in Massachusetts
Public water supplies in Massachusetts have been contaminated or threatened from a number of sources. The purpose of this paper is to outline the nature of groundwater contamination and...
Synthetic Organic Contaminants and Pesticides in Groundwater
For decades, the groundwater of Suffolk County, New York, has been bacteriologically and chemically of superior quality despite the high iron and manganese occasionally encountered in...
Technical Issues of Ground Water Data
Three fundamental issues to be considered in the design of ground water monitoring programs are 1) choice of parameters for characterizing contaminant sources, 2) determining the areal...
A Call for New Directions in Drilling and Sampling Monitoring Wells
The hollow-stem auger drilling technique has an inherent limitation of disturbing large volumes of subsurface materials around the borehole, thereby possibly affecting local permeabilities...
Managing Ground Water Data
Decisions concerning ground water protection and public health should be based on all relevant data, measured and analyzed with technically valid techniques. In areas where ground water...
Techniques for Delineating Subsurface Organic Contamination: A Case Study
Selection of techniques to detect and map subsurface organic contamination depends on the type of source, contamination, and hydrogeologic setting. Ideally, an investigator, manager, or...
Some Problems in the Engineering of Ground Water Cleanup
The problems facing engineers, often civil engineers, in addressing ground water contamination are both exotic and mundane, but all are critical to success. The paper provides a brief...
Control of Groundwater Contamination: Case Studies
Engineered solutions to groundwater contamination problems are being proposed at many hazardous waste sites, yet the effectiveness and long-term reliability of many of these proposed solutions...
Best Management Practices for Point and Nonpoint Sources of Groundwater Contamination
Management strategies have included regulations to guide or limit development in aquifer recharge areas and in the capture zones of public wellfields, engineering requirements to minimize...
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