Contamination from Sources with Mixed Wastes

Many contaminant sources introduce a diverse and complex mixture of organic and inorganic contaminants into the subsurface, which can complicate characterizations of contaminant transport, fate and effects. These sources include landfills and wastewater discharges. The resulting contaminant plumes are difficult to characterize, manage, and remediate. Reactions among dissolved chemicals, reactions between dissolved chemicals and the aquifer material, and microbial reactions can significantly accelerate or retard contaminant movement and complicate natural and engineered cleanup. Ongoing research focuses on defining source mixtures, developing field methods for characterization, quantifying transport processes and development of simulation modeling capabilities. Current research focuses on the following three areas:

Landfill Leachate in Alluvial Aquifers -- Norman, Oklahoma

Sewage Contamination in Sand and Gravel Aquifers -- Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Mixed, Low-level Radioactive and Other Wastes -- Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nevada

Program Headlines on Mixed Waste Contamination Research

• Measuring How Nitrogen Transforms in Groundwater
• Do Natural Processes Mitigate Contamination from Landfill Leachate?
• Zinc and Phosphate Come Back to Haunt Aquifer
• Visualizing Contamination Pathways in the Subsurface
• Mercury Found to Migrate Horizontally from Landfill
• New Model Allows for More Accurate Simulation of Tritium Movement in the Unsaturated Zone
• Monitoring Volatile Organic Compounds in Ground Water with Diffusion Samplers
• Hydrogen Measured in a New Test for Determining Subsurface Microbiological Activity at Contamination Sites
• Widespread Accumulations of Natural Perchlorate in Southwestern Soils
• What Mobilizes Arsenic in Ground Water
• Decades Required for Natural Processes to Clean Wastewater-Contaminated Ground Water
• New Information on the Long-Term Fate of Ammonium in Ground Water
• Desert Plants Reveal Contaminant Transport Pathways
• New Model Improves Understanding of the Transport of Carbon Isotopes in the Unsaturated-Zone
• Land-Use Activities Release Naturally Occurring Arsenic
• USGS Scientists Contribute to the Landmark "Treatise on Geochemistry"
• Using Plants To Detect Tritium Contamination
• High Nitrate in the Desert? What’s Going On?
• Are Deserts Still Drying Out Since the Ice Age?
• Phosphorus Doesn't Migrate in Ground Water? Better Think Again!
• Can a Sewage-Contaminated Aquifer Naturally Clean Itself?

Fact Sheets

• Bioremediation--Nature's Way to a Cleaner Environment: USGS Fact Sheet FS-O54-95
• Is Septic Waste Affecting Drinking Water from Shallow Domestic Wells Along the Platte River in Eastern Nebraska?: USGS Fact Sheet 072-03
• The Norman Landfill Environmental Research Site--What Happens to the Waste in Landfills?: USGS Fact Sheet 040-03
• Waste Burial in Arid Environments--Application of Information from a Field Laboratory in the Mojave Desert, Southern Nevada: USGS Fact Sheet FS-179-95

Meetings and Conferences

• USGS cosponsors the special session Fate and Transport of Radionuclides in the Environment at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 14-18, 2009

New Publications

Upcoming Publications

• Volatile organic compounds in the unsaturated zone from radioactive wastes: Baker, R.J., Andraski, B.J., Stonestrom, D.A., and Luo, W., Journal of Environmental Quality, doi:10.2135/jeq2011.0480 (IN PRESS).

Newly Published

• Impact of fluorochrome stains used to study bacterial transport in shallow aquifers on motility and chemotaxis of Pseudomonas species: Toepfer, J.A., Ford, R.M., Metge, D., and Harvey, R.W., 2012, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, p. n/a-n/a, doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2012.01355.x.