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Partnerships
Cleaning Up Sites with Collaborative Remediation Research
Finding solutions to remediate and restore land that has been contaminated by hazardous materials requires scientific innovation and expertise. Many of today's contaminated sites, including those identified by EPA's Superfund program, have complex cleanup problems that need the best scientific experts from across the United States to solve.
Who are our partners?
The Land Research Program collaborates with federal, regional, state and tribal partners to identify risks from hazardous waste spills and leaks in communities and solve technical problems to effectively remediate and restore contaminated sites across the country.
One federal collaborative effort is the Interagency Collaboration on Environmental Remediation Research (ICERR) Workgroup. Members work to enhance collaborative research on remediation and restoration technology.
Federal partners include:-
Department of Defense's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERP)
and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP)
How do we collaborate?
Scientists collaborate by sharing information, conducting joint research and identifying research issues through formal agreements with other federal agencies and other organizations. They also collaborate informally through workgroups and advisory panels.
Scientists work with state and local officials to address many site contamination problems. Risk assessors and site remediation managers receive technical advice. In addition, research projects are conducted in collaboration with states, universities and others to solve cleanup issues at specific sites.
The collaboration activities put science on the front line of efforts to remediate and restore land that has been contaminated by old mining operations, spills from oil or other hazardous waste.
Collaboration Activities include:- Developing new products
- Providing technical guidance and support
- Conducting demonstration projects with partners on new technology
- Providing technical workshops and training
- Identifying research needs to solve specific site cleanup problems
Where do we have collaborative projects?
Research is conducted in laboratories and at contaminated sites across the country to develop new scientific tools and test technology.
Collaborative Research Highlights:
Contaminated Sediments Research: EPA researchers are conducting geophysical research experiments and developing software for subsurface characterization and detection of contaminants in soil with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. USGS also has a number of programs, such as the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, which support studies related to contamination of surface water and groundwater by hazardous materials.
Contaminated Sediments Research: EPA researchers conduct collaborative research to improve characterization and risk management options for dealing with subsurface contamination of soil with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of the Interior, DOE and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Superfund Research: EPA works with the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which manages a large basic research program focused on Superfund issues, to advance fundamental Superfund research.
Interstate Technology Regulatory Council: EPA researchers participate in the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC) which provides an effective forum for coordinating federal and state activities and for defining continuing research needs on topics, including contaminated sediments, permeable reactive barriers, radio nuclides, and Brownfields.
Capping Research: EPA researchers worked with EPA's Region 3 Office in the Mid-Atlantic Region and the University of Texas to evaluate the effectiveness of an active cap on contaminated sediments. The results of the Anacostia River demonstration project in Washington, DC, completed in September, 2007, indicate that an "active" cap can be adequately placed over a contaminated sediment area, remain physically stable over time, effect ground water movement, and have limited impact on the re-establishment of flora/fauna. This information is useful to the Superfund program since effectively capping a contaminated site is less expensive than dredging and off-site treatment, with less environmental disturbances.
Sediment Research: A Federal Agency Sediment R&D Collaboration Workshop was held to bring together representatives from three of the principle federal organizations involved in sediment research, EPA, Navy, and the Army Corps of Engineers, to facilitate communication and collaboration, specifically in applied research to assess, remediate, and manage contaminated sediments. These agencies share similar challenges posed by contaminated sediments.
Biochemical Reactor Research: EPA scientists are participating in several demonstration projects of biochemical reactors which offer many advantages over standard water treatment plants at remote and abandoned mines in the West where contamination has occurred. The reactors do not require electricity because they operate based on gravitational forces, consequently, they are less costly to construct, operate, and maintain.
Two of these reactors are located at a Superfund site in Helena, Montana. A demonstration project on another type of reactor using bacteria is being conducted near Markleeville, Calif., with BP Atlantic Richfield and the University of Nevada in Reno. The low-cost, low- maintenance systems use tiny organisms to catalyze a biochemical process that has been shown to effectively remove metal contaminants from water drainage.
Multimedia Environmental Modeling: A formal collaborative agreement with nine federal agencies, including EPA, is advancing the application of multimedia environmental models to remediate contaminated sites. EPA's 3MRA modeling system, composed of 17 science sub-models, one such model that simulates source contaminant releases to the environment, provides data on fate and transport of contaminants through soil, air, and water media; and evaluates exposure and risk for both human and ecological (terrestrial and aquatic) receptor populations.