U.S. Geological Survey Toxic Substances Hydrology Program--Proceedings of the Technical Meeting, Colorado Springs, Colorado, September 20-24, 1993, Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4015

The Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides earth-science information needed to prevent or mitigate contamination of the Nation's ground-water and surface-water resources. The Toxics Program's objective is to understand the movement and fate of toxic substances in the Nation's ground water and surface water. The program's research activities include (1) field and laboratory investigation of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that control the transport and fate of contaminants in ground water and surface water; (2) the development of new analytical methods and sampling techniques to measure the concentrations of toxic substances in water; and (3) the investigation of the relations among human activities, environmental characteristics, and regional patterns of water quality. Most of the research activities take place at contaminated sites. The major research objective is not characterization of contaminated sites, but is obtaining knowledge about contaminant-transport processes transferable to other contaminated sites. For example, the knowledge obtained at the research sites could be used to predict contaminant transport at other sites, improve methods for remediating contaminated ground water, design water-quality assessments, and identify potential causes of contamination.

Recent accomplishments of the Toxics Program have been presented at a series of technical meetings held in Tucson, Arizona (1984), Cape Cod, Massachusetts (1985), Denver, Colorado (1987), Pensacola, Florida (1987), Phoenix, Arizona (1988), and Monterey, California (1991). This report documents the oral and poster presentations given at the most recent meeting, held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in September 1993. The sections in this report correspond to the topical organization of the meeting's oral sessions. Each session focused on research at a specific contaminated site or on a topical subject. Papers associated with poster sessions were integrated into the appropriate section. The lead paper in most of the sections gives an overview of the research conducted at the site discussed.