Containment and permeable reactive barriers have come full circle as an acceptable environmental control technology during the past 30 years. As interest shifted back toward containment in the 1990s, the industry found itself relying largely on pre-1980s technology. Fortunately, in the past 10 years important advances have occurred in several areas

Containment and permeable reactive barriers have come full circle as an acceptable environmental control technology during the past 30 years. As interest shifted back toward containment in the 1990s, the industry found itself relying largely on pre-1980s technology. Fortunately, in the past 10 years important advances have occurred in several areas of containment, most notably in the area of permeable barriers. A balanced presentation of what is known and not known, Barrier Systems for Contaminant Containment and Environmental Treatment provides a comprehensive report on the current state of the science and technology of waste containment. Comprehensive and easily read, this book is rich with discussions and references to literature. Setting the stage for how contaminants can get into the subsurface, the authors describe pathways and introduce the essential concepts of risk. They provide details on the current state of the art for performance prediction and clearly delineate the limitations in modeling specific situations. The book addresses the materials used in barriers, defines their properties, and explores how they perform in the field. It describes available technologies and addresses their applications to various types of barriers. Tackling perhaps the most challenging aspect of waste containment technology, the book includes two case studies that demonstrate the value of validating field performance. Subsurface containment and treatment barriers will continue to be a widely used environmental control technology in the years ahead. Representing the collective knowledge and efforts of leading experts from research, industry, and regulatory agencies, this book provides a valuable reference that helps to chart the way to successfully managing many contaminated sites.

President Carter's 1980 declaration of a state of emergency at Love Canal, New York, recognized that residents' health had been affected by nearby chemical waste sites. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, enacted in 1976, ushered in a new era of waste management disposal designed to protect the public from harm. It required that modern waste containment systems use "engineered" barriers designed to isolate hazardous and toxic wastes and prevent them from seeping into the environment. These containment systems are now employed at thousands of waste sites around the United States, and their effectiveness must be continually monitored. Assessment of the Performance of Engineered Waste Containment Barriers assesses the performance of waste containment barriers to date. Existing data suggest that waste containment systems with liners and covers, when constructed and maintained in accordance with current regulations, are performing well thus far. However, they have not been in existence long enough to assess long-term (postclosure) performance, which may extend for hundreds of years. The book makes recommendations on how to improve future assessments and increase confidence in predictions of barrier system performance which will be of interest to policy makers, environmental interest groups, industrial waste producers, and industrial waste management industry.

There may be nearly 300,000 waste sites in the United States where ground water and soil are contaminated. Yet recent studies question whether existing technologies can restore contaminated ground water to drinking water standards, which is the goal for most sites and the result expected by the public. How can the nation balance public health, technological realities, and cost when addressing ground water cleanup? This new volume offers specific conclusions, outlines research needs, and recommends policies that are technologically sound while still protecting health and the environment. Authored by the top experts from industry and academia, this volume: Examines how the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the subsurface environment, as well as the properties of contaminants, complicate the cleanup task. Reviews the limitations of widely used conventional pump-and-treat cleanup systems, including detailed case studies. Evaluates a range of innovative cleanup technologies and the barriers to their full implementation. Presents specific recommendations for policies and practices in evaluating contamination sites, in choosing remediation technologies, and in setting appropriate cleanup goals.

Environmental remediation technologies to control or prevent pollution from hazardous waste material is a growing research area in academia and industry, and is a matter of utmost concern to public health, to improve ecology and to facilitate the redevelopment of a contaminated site. Recently, in situ and ex situ remediation technologies have been developed to rectify the contaminated sites, utilizing various tools and devices through physical, chemical, biological, electrical, and thermal processes to restrain, remove, extract, and immobilize mechanisms to minimize the contamination effects. This handbook brings altogether classical and emerging techniques for hazardous wastes, municipal solid wastes and contaminated water sites, combining chemical, biological and engineering control methods to provide a one-stop reference. This handbook presents a comprehensive and thorough description of several remediation techniques for contaminated sites resulting from both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Providing critical insights into a range of treatments from chemical oxidation, thermal treatment, air sparging, electrokinetic remediation, stabilization/solidification, permeable reactive barriers, thermal desorption and incineration, phytoremediation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation, bioventing and biosparging through ultrasound-assisted remediation methods, electrochemical remediation methods, and nanoremediation, this handbook provides the reader an inclusive and detailed overview and then discusses future research directions. Closing chapters on green sustainable remediation, economics, health and safety issues, and environmental regulations around site remediation will make this a must-have handbook for those working in the field.