Productivity Comparison of Horizontal and Vertical Ground Water Remediation Well Scenarios

Abstract

AbstractA productivity parameter was developed to compare vertical and horizontal ground water remediation scenarios. The parameter was determined by dividing the cumulative mass of contaminant removed from an aquifer in a specified time by the total volume of ground water extracted to remove the mass. This was compared to two other methods of assessing remediation effectiveness: (1) the mass of contaminant removed at specified times; and (2) the volume of aquifer containing contaminants above a specified concentration limit as a function of time.A finite‐difference flow and a contaminant mass transport model were used to simulate a hypothetical contaminated aquifer. Productivity indices were calculated for the remediation scenarios developed in this paper. It is shown that these indices can be used as an additional tool in choosing among possible remediation scenarios.It was demonstrated that a ranking can be obtained for the various remediation scenarios, using each of our three methods for assessing remediation effectiveness. The ranking of a scenario depended on which method was used, and the selection of one particular remediation scenario over the other can be made taking the three methods into account. The relative importance of the three methods depended on the goal of the remediation. In an actual design, these methods can be used as part of the overall feasibility study that includes cost considerations.