A new insight into the influencing factors of natural attenuation of chlorinated hydrocarbons contaminated groundwater: A long-term field study of a retired pesticide site

Abstract

Natural attenuation of contaminants has been increasingly applied as a strategy to manage the retired pesticide manufacturing sites due to the increasing restrictions on the reuse of contaminated sites in China. However, the influencing factors to enhance natural attenuation for chlorinated hydrocarbons in retired pesticide sites were not well studied. In this paper, monitoring of pollutants, environmental factors and microbial community was conducted from 2016 to 2021 in a retired pesticide site in Jiangsu Province undergoing natural attenuation, where the groundwater was severely contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons. The spatial variation of main pollutants, including chlorinated ethenes and ethanes, indicated that the site could be divided into the source area, diffusion area, and the end of diffusion area, where organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB) were detected. Pollutants and environmental factors influenced the OHRB community structure, which explained 7.6% and 33.2% of the variation, respectively. The abundances of obligate and facultative OHRB were affected in opposite ways by pollutants and environmental factors. Dehalococcoides and Dehalogenimonas in obligate OHRB were significantly inhibited by sulfate (r = −0.448, p < 0.05). The spatial-temporal characteristics of pollutants and the reveal of microbial community structure and its restricting factors in different areas make the foundation for strengthening the implementation of natural attenuation.