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RI/FS/RD/RA

This project focuses on the remediation of the Berks Landfill Superfund Site located in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The site features closed municipal refuse landfills and additional disposal areas near residential wells. The remediation includes site characterization, geology, hydrogeology, biogeochemical assessment, fate and transport modeling, and ecological assessment.

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RI/FS/RD/RA

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  1. Berks Landfill Superfund Site RI/FS/RD/RA USEPA Region III PADEP Golder Associates Inc.

  2. Berks Landfill Superfund Site Located Spring Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania Site Features 2 closed municipal refuse landfills w/ soil cover 2 additional disposal areas downgradient residential wells Regulatory History NPL listed in 1988 Removal Action in 1990 AOC in 1991 ROD in 1997

  3. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Site Characterization • geology • hydrogeology & hydraulic testing • biogeochemical assessment • fate & transport modeling • ecological assessment • Remediation • Outcome

  4. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Geology • surface geologic mapping • corehole logging • downhole geophysics • thin sections (pertinent to geochemistry) • Large bowl shaped diabase intrusion surrounding various fractured Triassic sandstone and carbonate strata

  5. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Once structure was understood, start to eliminate numerous hydraulic flow pathways that Agencies & others were concerned about • Focus on most probable pathways, and fold in hydrogeologic information and formulate the site groundwater model

  6. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Hydrogeology & Hydraulic Testing • 300 foot coreholes • straddle packer testing • fluid loggings • Development of robust site conceptual model: • identification of major hydrostratigraphic units (diabase under artesian head) • residential wells isolated from landfill

  7. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Biogeochemical Assessment • GW concentrations decreasing with time • GW concentrations decreasing with distance • TCE:VC ratio decreasing downgradient (e.g. shallow from 61:9 to 2:16, deep from 2000:370 to 5:50 to 0:15) • metals associated with diabase-carbonate contact metamorphism

  8. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Biogeochemical Assessment • leachate driven (BOD 14 mg/L, TOC 39 mg/l) • inferred reducing environment (ammonia 40 mg/l, nitrate 0 mg/l, COD 143 mg/l, significant methane production) • reduced BOD, TOC and sulfate in most “active” shallow groundwater

  9. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Contaminant Fate & Transport • one-dimensional modeling down flow tubes • reaction half-lives for TCE, cDCE and VC of 400, 200 and 600 days, respectively • estimated plume length of 1700-2700 feet from landfill (short of residences) • Conduct ecological assessment on stream system

  10. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • Ecological Assessment • sporadic and trace detections in surface water • VOCs below standards • metals equivalent to upstream conditions • no adverse biological impacts • Record of decision for upgrades and repairs to existing removal action elements and sentinel well system

  11. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • OUTCOME • Agency Pre-Final Inspection (10/2) • Agency Pre-Certification Inspection (11/03) • Remedial Action Report: • Narrative description of work • As-Built Documentation • Certifications • USEPA Close Out Reports • Preliminary (prior to Pre-Certification Inspection) • Final (following RA Report)

  12. Berks Landfill Superfund Site • SUMMARY • Biotic degradation of groundwater constituents in fracture bedrock does occur (other examples in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts) • MNA remedies in fractured bedrock are acceptable to Agencies • Requires good geologic, hydrologic, biogeochemical and ecological assessment

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