Application of Flow and Transport Optimization Codes to Groundwater Pump and Treat Systems- Volume III

摘要

A 1998 Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General report indicates that the cumulative operating and maintenance (O&M) costs for 75 pump and treat systems operating at DoD chlorinated solvent groundwater sites (a subset of over 200 DoD pump and treat sites) was $40 million in fiscal year (FY) 1996. The report also projected that these costs would reach $1 billion by the year 2020. Recent studies completed by the EPA and the Navy indicate that the majority of pump and treat systems are not operating as designed have unachievable or undefined goals, and have not been optimized since installation. Even under ideal circumstances, (i.e. when the initial pump and treat system has been appropriately designed with clearly-defined objectives), changes in contaminate distributions and aquifer stresses, coupled with evolving regulatory climates, result in the need for system optimization. Although it is recognized that many of these pump and treat systems are ineffective for cleanup, regulations require that they continue to operate until a more effective solution is developed. In the interim, the potential for tremendous cost saving exists with the application of simple screening tools and optimization-simulation modeling. The optimization-simulation models link mathematical optimization techniques with simulations of groundwater flow and/or solute transport, to determine the best combination of well locations and pumping rates.