Prediction and Remediation of Groundwater Pollution in a Dynamic and Complex Hydrologic Environment of an Illegal Waste Dumping Site

Abstract

The characteristics of groundwater pollution caused by illegal waste dumping and methods for predicting and remediating it are still poorly understood. Serious 1,4-dioxane groundwater pollution—which has multiple sources—has been occurring at an illegal waste dumping site in the Tohoku region of Japan. So far, anti-pollution countermeasures have been taken including the installation of an impermeable wall and the excavation of soils and waste as well as the monitoring of contamination concentrations. The objective of this numerical study was to clarify the possibility of predicting pollutant transport in such dynamic and complex hydrologic environments, and to investigate the characteristics of pollutant transport under both naturally occurring and artificially induced groundwater flow (i.e., pumping for remediation). We first tried to reproduce the changes in 1,4-dioxane concentrations in groundwater observed in monitoring wells using a quasi-3D flow and transport simulation considering the multiple sources and spatiotemporal changes in hydrologic conditions. Consequently, we were able to reproduce the long-term trends of concentration changes in each monitoring well. With the predicted pollutant distribution, we conducted simulations for remediation such as pollutant removal using pumping wells. The results of the prediction and remediation simulations revealed the highly complex nature of 1,4-dioxane transport in the dumping site under both naturally occurring and artificially induced groundwater flows. The present study suggests possibilities for the prediction and remediation of pollution at illegal waste dumping sites, but further extensive studies are encouraged for better prediction and remediation.