Assessing remediation and natural attenuation

RSK Group is a major environmental consultancy with offices across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Western Asia. Lars Van Passel is the Technical Director of RSK Benelux where GWSDAT is used extensively to analyse and visualise monitoring data since 2016.

A recent use of GWSDAT involved a project with chlorinated solvents, oil and chromium contamination through underground leakage from a storage tank at a metal-working factory site. GWSDAT gave a very clear demonstration of the positive impact of remediation. Another project involved a site contaminated by chlorinated solvents. The analysis provided by GWSDAT showed significant decline in pollution as a result of remediation efforts, but highlighted one location where contamination remained high. Within several projects, the GWSDAT tool helped in proving that natural attenuation was very strong and that no active remediation would be necessary.

Lars commented: “GWSDAT is an excellent tool for assessing the success of remediation or for proving the existence of strong natural attenuation. It provides a firm scientific basis for good decision-making. It is the only tool I know which can perform analysis across space and time simultaneously. The visualisation it provides is invaluable in understanding the processes at work and in communicating the evidence to non-technical stakeholders. I continually direct my staff towards it for analysis and I am increasingly aware of the acceptance of GWSDAT by a wide range of stakeholders, including regulatory authorities.”