Overview
The Garvey Elevator Superfund Site is an active 8-million-bushel capacity grain elevator that used a liquid mixture of carbon tetrachloride and carbon disulfide as a grain fumigant from 1959 to 1985. The use of this fumigant resulted in a chlorinated VOC plume extending 7 miles off site. Both soil vapor and groundwater extraction and treatment systems were installed by the potentially responsible party.
HGL used its Physics-Based Management Optimization (PBMO™) software to design an optimal remedy to contain and remove groundwater contamination through use of the groundwater treatment system. Using Cloud-based technology for maximum efficiency, approximately 38,000 simulations were run to define the optimal remedy. Locations were selected to optimize target total system flow rate; reduce clean-up time, costs, and disruptions to property owners; and identify individual extraction and injection well operational constraints. The RD included solar-powered telemetry systems at 15 wellheads to provide continuous water level monitoring in 3 aquifer zones and allow remote adjustment of extraction rates, which together reduced the environmental footprint by using renewable energy, minimized land disturbance by avoiding the need to run fixed power lines to well locations, and reduced carbon emissions by minimizing mobilizations to the site.
