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Natural Attenuation: A Feasible Approach to Remediation of Ground Water Pollution at Landfills?
Author(s) -
Christensen Thomas H.,
Bjerg Paul L.,
Kjeldsen Peter
Publication year - 2000
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.1745-6592.2000.tb00253.x
Subject(s) - environmental remediation , natural (archaeology) , environmental science , pollution , groundwater , attenuation , groundwater remediation , groundwater pollution , water pollution , environmental engineering , waste management , contamination , geology , aquifer , engineering , geotechnical engineering , environmental chemistry , chemistry , ecology , paleontology , physics , optics , biology
Remediation of ground water pollution at old landfills with no engineered leachate collection system is a demanding and costly operation. It requires control of the landfill body, since the majority of the pollutants are still present in the landfilled waste for decades after the site has been closed. However removing the source is an attractive approach to managing leachate plumes. Natural attenuation has been implemented for petroleum hydrocarbon plumes and chorinated solvent plumes, primarily in the United States. Natural attenuation has not yet gained a foothold with respect to leachate plumes, however. Based on the experience gained from 10 years of research on two Danish landfills, it is suggested that natural attenuation is a feasible approach but is more complicated and demanding than in the case of petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvent.