Optimal management design of a pump and treat system at the industrial complex in Korea

The optimization of the management design using a pump and treat system for the remediation of contaminated groundwater was performed for an industrial complex site in Korea. The main contaminants of groundwater in the site are trichloroethylene (TCE) and other solvents. The pump and treat system was selected as a remediation technique, with a genetic algorithm selected as the optimization technique. MODFLOW, MT3D and RT3D were used to simulate groundwater flow and contaminant transport. Various scenarios were tested to obtain a cost effective remediation strategy. The cost effectiveness was determined by the total cost, including the installation cost of pumping wells and the operational cost of the pump and treat system. Scenario 1 involved the removal of TCE from the entire contaminated area using pre-existing candidate pumping wells and additional candidate wells. Scenario 2 involved the simultaneous removals of TCE and other solvents from the entire contaminated area. Scenario 3 entailed containing the TCE within a compliance line, with another remediation technique applied to the rest of the contaminated area to reduce the total remediation cost. The optimal management design of scenario 3 was selected as the most cost effective remediation strategy. This subject is supported by Korea Ministry of Environment as "The GAIA Project(173-092-010)".