HGL Awarded AAEES Superior Achievement Prize for In Situ Treatment Project at JBA
On April 7, 2022, HGL received the 2022 Superior Achievement for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science™ Award for its innovative use of in situ groundwater treatment technologies at Joint Base Andrews (JBA), Maryland. The award is presented annually by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists® (AAEES) to the best project entered in its Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science™ Awards Competition.
The project addressed a 21-acre trichloroethene (TCE) plume extending from the JBA-controlled former Brandywine Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO) yard beneath active railroad tracks and a public road into an adjacent residential area. DoD used the DRMO site for storage from 1943 to 1987, and spills, leaks, and storage practices common to that era resulted in the release of solvents and fuels into the environment and ultimately to the placement of the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1999.
HGL designed, constructed, and operated a groundwater extraction and treatment system to achieve hydraulic control of the dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source area. In addition, HGL designed and executed an extensive in situ enhanced reductive dechlorination remedy. By 2015, the entire plume beneath the residential area had been remediated to EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels.
To address residual sources of TCE and 1,4-dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB), HGL oversaw the design, construction, and operation of the first in situ thermal treatment project ever completed under an active railway. HGL worked with CSX Transportation, the owner of the railway, to install electrodes within its right-of-way for the large-scale electrical resistance heating (ERH) system. ERH treatment reduced TCE levels by 97.2% and 1,4-DCB levels by 99.5%. Throughout the project, HGL managed communication among numerous stakeholders, fostering open communication and transparency. Owing to the success of the project, HGL was selected by the Design and Construction Issues at Hazardous Waste Sites (DCHWS) symposium committee to present its process and outcome as part of the April 2019 Successful Applications for Thermal Treatment panel (https://www.same.org/Portals/0/posts/philadelphia/documents/DCHWS/DCHWS2019/DCHWS2019_P3S2.pdf).
HGL is proud of its project work and use of innovative in situ treatment technologies to remediate groundwater contamination in challenging environments such as the one at JBA.
