Abstract
Groundwater from a shallow aquifer in Mobara, a city in a natural gas field in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, was found to contain a significant amount of dissolved methane (<3.1 mM) along with nitrate, phosphate and methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs, <9.9×106 MPN ml−1) which can degrade trichloroethylene (TCE). This water exhibited high methanotroph growth activity and rapid degradation of TCE. This water was introduced into a TCE-contaminated aquifer. The concentration of TCE at the monitoring well 2 m down-gradient of the injection pit decreased from 128 μg L−1 before the injection to less than the lower detection limit of 12.5 μg L−1 after the injection, while it decreased only slightly (to 86 μg L−1) when control water was injected. These results demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing a natural groundwater resource containing methane and methanotrophs without any additives for bioremediation of a TCE-contaminated site.
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