The Groundwater Professionals of North Carolina is non-profit North Carolina Corporation established in 1989 to advance the science and profession of groundwater through education, further the understanding, awareness, protection, remediation, and proper management of North Carolina groundwater, and promote an exchange of ideas and practical experience among members of the academic, professional, industrial, governmental, legal, and regulatory communities involved in various aspects of groundwater in North Carolina.
Hosting two conferences and a slew of social events each year, the GWPNC has created a community of professionals who come together and share insight, technical expertise, and industry innovation to further collective understanding. Each mini conference invites experts to submit presentations on different themes. The spring mini conference focused on sustainability and bioremediation.
Sustainability
Presentations surrounding sustainability took a local approach. Discussion highlighted sustainable remediation, how the town of Morrisville is becoming more sustainable, and the North Carolina state government’s efforts to build resilience. Yet sustainability can also be applied to reclaiming degraded lands, as in the talk titled Transitioning Cleanup Sites to Carbon Farms: Potential Application of Soil Carbon Sequestration Practices for Sustainable Site Remedies.
It is necessary to find natural solutions that help reach a carbon emission net zero goal, namely the potential for nature-based carbon solutions to reverse soil degradation. While more testing is needed, eventually enough data will help prove that nature-based carbon solutions have a host of benefits, especially for the climate, and that this approach could eventually be a method for superfund site remediation.
Bioremediation
Bioremediation, the process of using biological agents to degrade environmental contaminants, is closely tied to sustainability. Talks in the second half of the day surrounded this topic, and most presented case studies where bioremediation was a success. One presentation, Treating a Cocktail of Contaminants New and Old: ASubgrade Biogeochemical Reactor Case Study highlighted the cleanup of land in Virginia, which was used for the disposal of waste explosives and spent solvents. The remediation strategy was a subgrade biogeochemical reactor – an excavated box which is filled with reactive media – which was designed to create good conditions for anaerobic biodegradation and was filled with lots of media to foster a biodiverse microbial community. The technology was a proven treatment, with the goal of evaluating how it handled TCE, VC, and 1-4 dioxane, with a monitor on RDX and PFAS.
A second case study, and presentation, Lessons Learned from Large-Scale Bioaugmentation at a Remote Site, highlighted a former manufacturing site that made flares. Located in Tennessee, the area experienced TCE plumes, yet was forested and overgrown with sloping topography. The site was so remote, it lacked an address. Interestingly, high fructose corn syrup was found to be successful with other enhanced reductive dichlorination (ERD) injection techniques. Since the project was ongoing during the pandemic, rising corn prices added to the site challenges.
As cleanup of formerly contaminated sites and sustainability continue to be a major focus, the industry is clearly working hard on each, and in some cases, to unite the two. It is necessary to preserve – and improve – the land we have available. If construction and improvements to society and infrastructure are to move forward, innovation and alignment is key, and this conference took a closer look at how this is happening – and can happen – moving forward.