On the effectiveness of site investigation in regard to project costs – a case study

Abstract

AbstractGeotechnical and environmental investigations for the planning of remediation measures are often reduced to the minimum required by national standards and authorities – or even less. This paper will highlight the positive effects of increased investigation efforts on reduction of total remediation costs at a specific site. The subsoil of this site is partially contaminated with perchloroethene. The site investigation included two campaigns of Membrane Interface Probing (MIP). The results of the MIP investigation were validated by taking depth‐oriented soil and groundwater samples. This high resolution of site characterization aimed to identify the contaminated hot spots as prerequisite for successful site remediation. A conceptual site model containing the spatial distribution of the contamination and the lithology was generated for the area of interest and was continuously updated during the investigation period. Based on this model, the architecture, volume and size of the contamination source zone that has to be treated was estimated with increasing stringency.