Full-Service Optimization at the Former Fort Ord, CA

Overview

HGL optimized the design and operation of a groundwater remedial system at the former Fort Ord. As a result, the remedial goals for the site were met 3 years before the date estimated in the Record of Decision (ROD).
HGL employed an integrated approach to address the site’s technical and management complexities, which included the discovery that the trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination plume had extended off site approximately 1,400 feet beyond the previously estimated limit of 2,400 feet, the need to expand the existing remedial system, the presence of an adjacent carbon tetrachloride plume, and the existence of critical habitat. The integrated technical approach included the use of groundwater models, a cloud-based parallelized computational optimization methodology that used HGL’s PBMO^TM tool, the ongoing adjustment of pumping schedules based on performance monitoring, and construction practices that minimized impacts on habitat. HGL achieved the groundwater remedial actions objectives in 2014, completed attainment monitoring in 2015, and obtained remedial action-completion concurrence from California regulatory agencies in 2016.

In April 2017, the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists^® (AAEES) awarded HGL a grand prize for its work at the former Fort Ord. The Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science^TM competition has been identifying and rewarding the best in current environmental engineering and science since 1989.