Sustainable Water Management - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 104

TABLE 3.2
Comparison of Remediation Technologies in Soil and Groundwater

Mobility
Reduction
Containment Good Low Low Good
Solidiication (in situ) Avg. Avg. Low Good
Solidiication (ex situ) Avg. Avg. Low Good
Vitriication High Good Low Good
Biological treatment Avg.-high Low Good Good
Soil washing High Good Low Low
Soil vapor extraction Avg. Good Good Good
Pyrometallurgical extraction High Good Low Low
Electrokinetics Avg. Good Low Low
Source: Adapted from Evanko, C.R. and Dzombak, D.A., Remediation of Metals-Contaminated Soils and Groundwater ,
Technology Evaluation Report TE 97-01, October, GWRTAC, Pittsburgh, PA, 1997.
a “High” is in the range of $300 to 900/tonnes, “average” from $100 to 300/tonnes, and “low” is up to $100/tonnes.
Avg. denotes average.

Long-Term
Effectiveness

Toxicity
Reduction Technology Cost a

3.5 Concluding Remarks
Water is of utmost importance because without water, living species would perish. The
demand and use of water can often produce situations that result in conlicts between
humankind and the environment. Degradation or impairment of water quality results
from various usages associated with processes and activities associated with farming,
natural resources harvesting, industrialization, and urbanization. Management and edu-
cation in sustainable water usage are required, and sources of contamination must be
eliminated to maintain water quality and supply for future generations. Water must be
conserved and managed properly for preservation of biodiversity. Failure to do so will
result in the diminution of the capability of the geoenvironment to provide the basis for
life support. Various remediation tools have been developed to treat water once it has been
contaminated. The choice of any of these techniques requires examination of resource
depletion, energy requirements, and emissions—if the aspirations of water sustainability
are to be fulilled.
The record shows that outside of the global distribution of water resources, the two great
threats to the availability and quality of water resources (surface water and groundwater)
are (1) overuse of the available water resources and (2) contamination of these same water
resources. Overuse problem arise from poor management practices and lack of knowledge
or ignorance of the nature of the various water budget items and how they contribute to
the health of the available water. Control and/or mitigation of the impact of contamina-
tion of available water resources from the many contaminant sources are measures that
must be undertaken as critical procedures in structuring water sustainability protocols
and requirements.
Although implementation of remediation technology to improve compromised or im-
paired water quality is an admission that management and controls on water resource con-
tamination have failed, it is nevertheless a remedy that needs more attention and research.
Development of more capable technology to clean contaminated water resources is neces-
sary—to meet the critical demand for clean water from the consumers. Since aquifers or