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The Application of a Statistical Trend Analysis Model to Ground Water Monitoring Data from Solid Waste Landfills
Author(s) -
Lachance Amy D.,
Stoline Michael R.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
groundwater monitoring and remediation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-6592
pISSN - 1069-3629
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6592.1995.tb00564.x
Subject(s) - environmental science , groundwater , contamination , environmental monitoring , prioritization , water quality , municipal solid waste , environmental engineering , waste management , engineering , biology , ecology , geotechnical engineering , management science
A statistical trend methodology is used to compare ground water quality between eight landfill sites in western Michigan as a case study. Monitoring data were collected over a 15‐year period on 36 parameters at an upgradient and downgradient well selected at each of the eight sites. This yielded a total of 576 monitoring data sets available for analysis. New trend and contamination indices are introduced that are used to compare ground water contamination between these eight sites. These indices are used to assess each landfill's relative potential for environmental harm. Many questions remain unanswered, but what is demonstrated here is that this type of methodology has the potential to be used to assess trends of ground water chemistry concentrations at landfill sues in a region. A specific purpose of such an assessment could be to provide a quantified basis for the prioritization of funds allocated for cleanup of contaminated landfill sites. Having a technical capability to reduce large amounts of ground water monitoring data to appropriate summaries, which then can be used to assess environmental contamination between several sites, could also have important economic and health implications in other settings. Hopefully this paper will encourage further development of such technologies for these purposes.