New tools for monitoring coastal contaminant migration

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New tools for monitoring coastal contaminant migration

Chadwick, D.B. / Gordon, A. / Groves, J. / Smith, C. / Paulsen, R. / Harre, B.

Coastal landfills and hazardous waste sites pose a potential environmental threat to surface water bodies through the exchange of groundwater-borne contaminants. Many of these sites are located adjacent to harbors, bays, estuaries, wetlands and other sensitive coastal environments. In 1998, the Navy initiated a review by the Marine Sciences Division of SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego, California, and the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center in Port Hueneme, California, to determine the extent of this issue for Navy sites, as well as the range of available assessment technologies. The site review revealed that approximately one-third of all Navy landfills had potential for groundwater exchange, and that about one-fifth of all sites showed evidence of tidal influence. The technology review identified two major obstacles for improved assessment of these sites: the need for tools to identify the spatial location where exchange is likely to take place, and the need for tools to accurately measure the groundwater seepage across the sediment-water interface. To address these issues, the Navy entered into a collaborative program with researchers from Cornell University to develop new techniques for identifying potential areas of groundwater impingement into surface waters and for quantifying the flow rates and contaminant levels of groundwater at the surface water interface.