Groundwater Treatment System Impacts on Freshwater Ecosystems: A Massachusetts Military Reservation Case Study

摘要

The ecological monitoring program was developed to support the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) cleanup activities for contaminated groundwater that has resulted from past military actions at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Treatment systems have been designed and constructed to capture and prevent further migration of contaminated groundwater. Ecological assessments were conducted to evaluate the potential for undesirable ecological impacts that may result from the installation and operation of groundwater treatment systems. This study evaluated the impacts of the Fuel Spill-12 (FS-12) extraction, treatment, and reinjection (ETR) system on freshwater ecosystems through two lines of evidence. The first line of evidence entailed a factor analysis of water quality parameters in potentially impacted ponds (ponds within the flow path of the reinjected, treated water) and reference ponds (ponds outside the influence of the FS-12 ETR). This approach assessed the source of variability of water quality parameters in these ponds, including treatment system effects. The second line of evidence incorporated a multivariate discriminant analysis of water quality parameters in upgradient groundwater, treatment plant effluent and reinjected groundwater. These lines of evidence indicated that there was little or no impact of the FS-12 treatment system on neighboring ecosystems. This study provided the justification for modifying the ecological monitoring program to analysis of treatment plant direct impacts (i.e., influent vs. effluent) and provided a significant cost savings for the monitoring program.