Improved site characterisation of contaminated land using pump-and-treat data

This paper presents findings fromthe back-analysis of a pump-and-treat operation for a site polluted with trichloroethylene (TCE).The groundwater extraction system had been installed to remove the historic spillage from a housing estate in the southern Dutch City of Tilburg.The spillage originated from a textile factory formerly located at the site.Over a period of seven years, continuous pumping of groundwater had failed to reduce significantly the annual extraction of TCE. As a result, the City of Tilburg was faced with ongoing remediation costs combined with concern over the full extent of pollution at the site and the long-term commitment for groundwater pumping. Between 1989 and 1996, the pump-and-treat system extracted approximately 4400 kg of TCE, with 570 kg of TCE being extracted in aqueous solution alone in 1996. Stagnation of the pump-and-treat operation led the municipal authorities of Tilburg to commission a feasibility project that would interpret the seven years of groundwatermonitoring dat...