Assessing the Transport of Pharmaceutical Compounds in a Layered Aquifer Discharging to a Stream.

A groundwater plume containing high concentrations of pharmaceutical compounds, mainly sulfonamides, barbiturates, and ethyl urethane, in addition to chlorinated ethenes and benzene was investigated. The contamination originating from a former pharmaceutical industry discharges into a multilayered aquifer system and a downgradient stream. In this study, geological and hydrogeological data were integrated into a numerical flow model to examine identified trends using statistical approaches, including principal component analysis and hierarchal cluster analysis.

Delay in catchment nitrogen load to streams following restrictions on fertilizer application.

A MIKE SHE hydrological-solute transport model including nitrate reduction is employed to evaluate the delayed response in nitrogen loads in catchment streams following the implementation of nitrogen mitigation measures since the 1980s. The nitrate transport lag times between the root zone and the streams for the period 1950-2011 were simulated for two catchments in Denmark and compared with observational data. Results include nitrogen concentration and mass discharge to streams.

A simple contaminant fate and transport modelling tool for management and risk assessment of groundwater pollution from contaminated sites.

Contaminated sites pose a significant threat to groundwater resources. The resources that can be allocated by water regulators for site investigation and cleanup are limited compared to the large number of contaminated sites. Numerical transport models of individual sites require large amounts of data and are labor intensive to set up, and thus they are likely to be too expensive to be useful in the management of thousands of contaminated sites.

Characterization of chlorinated solvent contamination in limestone using innovative FLUTe® technologies in combination with other methods in a line of evidence approach.

Characterization of dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source zones in limestone aquifers/bedrock is essential to develop accurate site-specific conceptual models and perform risk assessment. Here innovative field methods were combined to improve determination of source zone architecture, hydrogeology and contaminant distribution. The FACT™ is a new technology and it was applied and tested at a contaminated site with a limestone aquifer, together with a number of existing methods including wire-line coring with core subsampling, FLUTe® transmissivity profiling and multilevel water sampling.

A Bayesian belief network approach for assessing uncertainty in conceptual site models at contaminated sites.

A key component in risk assessment of contaminated sites is in the formulation of a conceptual site model (CSM). A CSM is a simplified representation of reality and forms the basis for the mathematical modeling of contaminant fate and transport at the site. The CSM should therefore identify the most important site-specific features and processes that may affect the contaminant transport behavior at the site.

Modelling the impact of retention-detention units on sewer surcharge and peak and annual runoff reduction.

Stormwater management using water sensitive urban design is expected to be part of future drainage systems. This paper aims to model the combination of local retention units, such as soakaways, with subsurface detention units. Soakaways are employed to reduce (by storage and infiltration) peak and volume stormwater runoff; however, large retention volumes are required for a significant peak reduction.

Sources, occurrence and predicted aquatic impact of legacy and contemporary pesticides in streams.

We couple current findings of pesticides in surface and groundwater to the history of pesticide usage, focusing on the potential contribution of legacy pesticides to the predicted ecotoxicological impact on benthic macroinvertebrates in headwater streams. Results suggest that groundwater, in addition to precipitation and surface runoff, is an important source of pesticides (particularly legacy herbicides) entering surface water. In addition to current-use active ingredients, legacy pesticides, metabolites and impurities are important for explaining the estimated total toxicity attributable to pesticides.

Evaluating alternate biokinetic models for trace pollutant cometabolism.

Mathematical models of cometabolic biodegradation kinetics can improve our understanding of the relevant microbial reactions and allow us to design in situ or in-reactor applications of cometabolic bioremediation. A variety of models are available, but their ability to describe experimental data has not been systematically evaluated for a variety of operational/experimental conditions. Here five different models were considered: first-order; Michaelis-Menten; reductant; competition; and combined models.

Dilution and volatilization of groundwater contaminant discharges in streams.

An analytical solution to describe dilution and volatilization of a continuous groundwater contaminant plume into streams is developed for risk assessment. The location of groundwater plume discharge into the stream (discharge through the side versus bottom of the stream) and different distributions of the contaminant plume concentration (Gaussian, homogeneous or heterogeneous distribution) are considered. The model considering the plume discharged through the bank of the river, with a uniform concentration distribution was the most appropriate for risk assessment due to its simplicity and limited data requirements.

A new settling velocity model to describe secondary sedimentation.

Secondary settling tanks (SSTs) are the most hydraulically sensitive unit operations in biological wastewater treatment plants. The maximum permissible inflow to the plant depends on the efficiency of SSTs in separating and thickening the activated sludge. The flow conditions and solids distribution in SSTs can be predicted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools.

Modeling the Factors Impacting Pesticide Concentrations in Groundwater Wells.

This study examines the effect of pumping, hydrogeology, and pesticide characteristics on pesticide concentrations in production wells using a reactive transport model in two conceptual hydrogeologic systems; a layered aquifer with and without a stream present. The pumping rate can significantly affect the pesticide breakthrough time and maximum concentration at the well. The effect of the pumping rate on the pesticide concentration depends on the hydrogeology of the aquifer; in a layered aquifer, a high pumping rate resulted in a considerably different breakthrough than a low pumping rate, while in an aquifer with a stream the effect of the pumping rate was insignificant.

Effects of dynamic operating conditions on nitrification in biological rapid sand filters for drinking water treatment.

Biological rapid sand filters are often used to remove ammonium from groundwater for drinking water supply. They often operate under dynamic substrate and hydraulic loading conditions, which can lead to increased levels of ammonium and nitrite in the effluent. To determine the maximum nitrification rates and safe operating windows of rapid sand filters, a pilot scale rapid sand filter was used to test short-term increased ammonium loads, set by varying either influent ammonium concentrations or hydraulic loading rates.

Risk-based prioritization of ground water threatening point sources at catchment and regional scales.

Contaminated sites threaten ground water resources all over the world. The available resources for investigation and remediation are limited compared to the scope of the problem, so prioritization is crucial to ensure that resources are allocated to the sites posing the greatest risk. A flexible framework has been developed to enable a systematic and transparent risk assessment and prioritization of contaminant point sources, considering the local, catchment, or regional scales (Danish EPA, 2011, 2012).

Multi-isotope (carbon and chlorine) analysis for fingerprinting and site characterization at a fractured bedrock aquifer contaminated by chlorinated ethenes.

The use of compound specific multi-isotope approach (C and Cl) in the characterization of a chlorinated ethenes contaminated fractured aquifer allows the identification of several sources and contaminant plumes, as well as the occurrence of biodegradation and mixing processes. The study site is located in Spain with contamination resulting in groundwater concentrations of up to 50mg/L of trichloroethene (TCE), the most abundant chlorinated ethene, and 7 mg/L of tetrachloroethene (PCE). The potential sources of contamination including abandoned barrels, an underground tank, and a disposal lagoon, showed a wide range in δ(13)C values from -15.

The impact of bioaugmentation on dechlorination kinetics and on microbial dechlorinating communities in subsurface clay till.

A molecular study on how the abundance of the dechlorinating culture KB-1 affects dechlorination rates in clay till is presented. DNA extracts showed changes in abundance of specific dechlorinators as well as their functional genes. Independently of the KB-1 added, the microbial dechlorinator abundance increased to the same level in all treatments.

Does microbial centimeter-scale heterogeneity impact MCPA degradation in and leaching from a loamy agricultural soil?

The potential for pesticide degradation varies greatly at the centimeter-scale in agricultural soil. Three dimensional numerical simulations were conducted to evaluate how such small-scale spatial heterogeneity may affect the leaching of the biodegradable pesticide 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) in the upper meter of a variably-saturated, loamy soil profile. To incorporate realistic spatial variation in degradation potential, we used data from a site where 420 mineralization curves over 5 depths have been measured.

The gompertz function can coherently describe microbial mineralization of growth-sustaining pesticides.

Mineralization of (14)C-labeled tracers is a common way of studying the environmental fate of xenobiotics, but it can be difficult to extract relevant kinetic parameters from such experiments since complex kinetic functions or several kinetic functions may be needed to adequately describe large data sets. In this study, we suggest using a two-parameter, sigmoid Gompertz function for parametrizing mineralization curves. The function was applied to a data set of 252 normalized mineralization curves that represented the potential for degradation of the herbicide MCPA in three horizons of an agricultural soil.

A conceptual model linking functional gene expression and reductive dechlorination rates of chlorinated ethenes in clay rich groundwater sediment.

We used current knowledge of cellular processes involved in reductive dechlorination to develop a conceptual model to describe the regulatory system of dechlorination at the cell level; the model links bacterial growth and substrate consumption to the abundance of messenger RNA of functional genes involved in the dechlorination process. The applicability of the model was tested on a treatability study of biostimulated and bioaugmented microcosms. Using quantitative real time PCR, high-resolution expression profiles of the functional reductive dehalogenase genes bvcA and vcrA were obtained during two consecutive dechlorination events of trichlorethene, cis-dichlorethene and vinyl chloride.

Discharge of landfill leachate to streambed sediments impacts the mineralization potential of phenoxy acid herbicides depending on the initial abundance of tfdA gene classes.

To understand the role of abundance of tfdA gene classes belonging to β- and γ-proteobacteria on phenoxy acid herbicide degradation, streambed sediments were sampled around three seepage meters (SMs) installed in a landfill-impacted groundwater-surface water interface. Highest herbicide mass discharge to SM3, and lower herbicide mass discharges to SM1 and SM2 were determined due to groundwater discharge rates and herbicide concentrations. SM1-sediment with the lowest abundance of tfdA gene classes had the slowest mineralization, whereas SM2- and SM3-sediments with more abundant tfdA genes had faster mineralization.

A catchment scale evaluation of multiple stressor effects in headwater streams.

Mitigation activities to improve water quality and quantity in streams as well as stream management and restoration efforts are conducted in the European Union aiming to improve the chemical, physical and ecological status of streams. Headwater streams are often characterised by impairment of hydromorphological, chemical, and ecological conditions due to multiple anthropogenic impacts. However, they are generally disregarded as water bodies for mitigation activities in the European Water Framework Directive despite their importance for supporting a higher ecological quality in higher order streams.

ZVI-Clay remediation of a chlorinated solvent source zone, Skuldelev, Denmark: 2. Groundwater contaminant mass discharge reduction.

The impact of source mass depletion on the down-gradient contaminant mass discharge was monitored for a 19-month period as a part of a field demonstration of the ZVI-Clay soil mixing remediation technology. Groundwater samples were collected from conventional monitoring wells (120 samples) and a dense network of multilevel samplers (640 samples). The hydraulic gradient and conductivity were determined.

Is there an environmental benefit from remediation of a contaminated site? Combined assessments of the risk reduction and life cycle impact of remediation.

A comparative life cycle assessment is presented for four different management options for a trichloroethene-contaminated site with a contaminant source zone located in a fractured clay till. The compared options are (i) long-term monitoring (ii) in-situ enhanced reductive dechlorination (ERD), (iii) in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) with permanganate and (iv) long-term monitoring combined with treatment by activated carbon at the nearby waterworks. The life cycle assessment included evaluation of both primary and secondary environmental impacts.

Review of reactive kinetic models describing reductive dechlorination of chlorinated ethenes in soil and groundwater.

Reductive dechlorination is a major degradation pathway of chlorinated ethenes in anaerobic subsurface environments, and reactive kinetic models describing the degradation process are needed in fate and transport models of these contaminants. However, reductive dechlorination is a complex biological process, where many microbial populations including dechlorinating, fermentative, methanogenic, iron and sulfate reducing, interact. In this article the modeling approaches and the experimental data needed to calibrate them are reviewed, classified, and discussed.

Integrated assessment of the impact of chemical stressors on surface water ecosystems.

The release of chemicals such as chlorinated solvents, pesticides and other xenobiotic organic compounds to streams, either from contaminated sites, accidental or direct application/release, is a significant threat to water resources. In this paper, different methods for evaluating the impacts of chemical stressors on stream ecosystems are evaluated for a stream in Denmark where the effects of major physical habitat degradation can be disregarded. The methods are: (i) the Danish Stream Fauna Index, (ii) Toxic Units (TU), (iii) SPEAR indices, (iv) Hazard Quotient (HQ) index and (v) AQUATOX, an ecological model.

A remediation performance model for enhanced metabolic reductive dechlorination of chloroethenes in fractured clay till.

A numerical model of metabolic reductive dechlorination is used to describe the performance of enhanced bioremediation in fractured clay till. The model is developed to simulate field observations of a full scale bioremediation scheme in a fractured clay till and thereby to assess remediation efficiency and timeframe. A relatively simple approach is used to link the fermentation of the electron donor soybean oil to the sequential dechlorination of trichloroethene (TCE) while considering redox conditions and the heterogeneous clay till system (clay till matrix, fractures and sand stringers).