The Applied Technology Department at the Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center and Shaw Environmental, Inc., have just successfully completed a field demonstration of in situ bioremediation of a groundwater aquifer contaminated with perchlorate. Using a recirculation cell design, naturally occurring microorganisms were stimulated to degrade perchlorate by injecting a food source (lactate) and neutralizing the groundwater acidity with a carbonate buffer. Starting with perchlorate concentrations in excess of 210 mg/L, perchlorate levels were reduced by more than 95% in eight of the nine test plot monitoring wells over the 5 months of sampling. In two of the monitoring wells, the perchlorate levels were lowered to less than 5 ppb. In addition to the perchlorate levels and the pH, alkalinity, nitrate, and sulfate concentrations were measured. In situ bioremediation techniques are much less expensive and significantly lower in maintenance than traditional ex situ pump-and-treat systems. This is the first field trial conducted on the east coast of the United States, the first trial performed in an acidic aquifer, and the first demonstration of treating in situ perchlorate levels in excess of 200 mg/L. This project provides new and valuable information concerning the application of bioremediation for in situ perchlorate treatment.

The Applied Technology Department at the Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center and Shaw Environmental, Inc., have just successfully completed a field demonstration of in situ bioremediation of a groundwater aquifer contaminated with perchlorate. Using a recirculation cell design, naturally occurring microorganisms were stimulated to degrade perchlorate by injecting a food source (lactate) and neutralizing the groundwater acidity with a carbonate buffer. Starting with perchlorate concentrations in excess of 210 mg/L, perchlorate levels were reduced by more than 95% in eight of the nine test plot monitoring wells over the 5 months of sampling. In two of the monitoring wells, the perchlorate levels were lowered to less than 5 ppb. In addition to the perchlorate levels and the pH, alkalinity, nitrate, and sulfate concentrations were measured. In situ bioremediation techniques are much less expensive and significantly lower in maintenance than traditional ex situ pump- and-treat systems. This is the first field trial conducted on the east coast of the United States, the first trial performed in an acidic aquifer, and the first demonstration of treating in situ perchlorate levels in excess of 200 mg/L. This project provides new and valuable information concerning the application of bioremediation for in situ perchlorate treatment.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, our nation began to grapple with the legacy of past disposal practices for toxic chemicals. With the passage in 1980 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, it became the law of the land to remediate these sites. The U. S. Department of Defense (DoD), the nation’s largest industrial organization, also recognized that it too had a legacy of contaminated sites. Historic operations at Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps facilities, ranges, manufacturing sites, shipyards, and depots had resulted in widespread contamination of soil, groundwater, and sediment. While Superfund began in 1980 to focus on remediation of heavily contaminated sites largely abandoned or neglected by the private sector, the DoD had already initiated its Installation Restoration Program in the mid 1970s. In 1984, the DoD began the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) for contaminated site assessment and remediation. Two years later, the U. S. Congress codified the DERP and directed the Secretary of Defense to carry out a concurrent program of research, development, and demonstration of innovative remediation technologies. As chronicled in the 1994 National Research Council report, “Ranking Hazardous-Waste Sites for Remedial Action”, our early estimates on the cost and suitability of existing technologies for cleaning up contaminated sites were wildly optimistic. Original estimates, in 1980, projected an average Superfund cleanup cost of a mere $3.

Provides a detailed description of perchlorate chemistry and recent advances in innovative remediation technologies for perchlorate contamination and their pros and cons Additionally, the first book to describe the natural occurrence of perchlorate and its unique isotopic signatures for environmental forensics and its detection in the environment, particularly the real-time analysis using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The development of analytical methods for identifying widespread perchlorate contamination brought about an explosion of research into the environmental problems and their potential solutions along with a corresponding increase in the availability of information. Unlike reference works that focus on only a few aspects of this contaminant, Perchlora