Optimal management design of a pump and treat system at the industrial complex in Wonju, Korea

Abstract

The optimization of the management design for the remediation of contaminated groundwater, using a pump and treat system, was performed for an industrial complex site in Wonju, Korea. The groundwater in the study area was contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and other solvents. The pump and treat system was selected as a remediation technique, with a genetic algorithm selected as the optimization technique. The groundwater flow and contaminant transport were simulated using MODFLOW, MT3D and RT3D. Three possible scenarios were considered to obtain a cost effective remediation strategy. The cost effectiveness was determined by the total cost, including the installation cost of pumping wells and the operational cost of the pump and treat system. Scenario 1 involved the removal of TCE from the entire contaminated area using pre-existing candidate pumping wells and additional candidate wells. The results with scenario 1 showed that additional candidate wells were required to reduce the total remediation cost. Scenario 2 involved the simultaneous removals of TCE and other solvents from the entire contaminated area. The total cost of scenario 2 was 180% that of scenario 1. Scenario 3 entailed containing the TCE within a compliance line, with another remediation technique applied to the rest of the contaminated area to reduce the total remediation cost. The total cost of scenario 3 was reduced to 37% that of scenario 1 under the same cleanup time constraint. If the cost of the other remediation technique does not exceed the difference between the total costs of the other two scenarios, the optimal management design of scenario 3 would be the most cost effective remediation strategy.