WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.000 My name is Mark Stapleton. I am a senior environmental remediation engineer with nobles, and we're currently assisting the United States Air Force with their remediation of restoration efforts around the world. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:32.000 It's my understanding, as I said, as I was moving up here, that the committee here is interested in actually seeing some case studies where we've actually applied the environmental sequence stratography to optimize remedial systems and come up with a better solution we have 3 case studies. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:50.000 For you today, all in 3 separate geologic environments, with 3 separate and distinctly different contaminants of concern in various stages of deployment of the actual environmental sequence strategy. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:09.000 First, off I'm going to go over some of the basic benefits of environmental sequence, stratigraphy, but more in the lines of how it applies to groundwater remediation couple years back, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center Conducted an Internal Study of the Conceptual site models we 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:19.000 actually had in our library and see what kind of information we can glean from those individual studies and bring that information to the community. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.000 The 3 studies that I'm going to be presenting today. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:25.000 You may have heard of some of them Canon Air Force Base. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:31.000 It's a multiple, a triple F air force form firefighting phone, release sites and landfill number 5. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:37.000 Kirtland, Air Force, Base, Bulk, Fuels, Facility, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.000 A very fun sight, and you may have heard of that one. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:45.000 And then finally the Eglin Air Force, Base Duke Field, Site, St. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:52.000 69, which is Pce chlorinated solvent kind of a legacy site where and we'll go over the go over. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:02:03.000 How Ess was applied to that particular site to bring the project back on track and then go over some of the lessons learned that we leaned from the actual A. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:16.000 Csm library, as well as the individual case studies. So what we know so far is about the overall state of the science. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.000 We use the Ss. To determine the overall deposition environment. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:35.000 Most importantly, for the United States Air Force. We use and like to leverage existing lithologic information that we've gleaned or actually captured from other remediation in investigations actually within our inventory. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:41.000 We then take that information and map the permeability, architecture that's actually at the facility. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.000 Most of this you'll find in the 2,017 EPA. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.000 Publication, for environmental sequence, stratigraphy. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.000 But we're going to focus our efforts today on the slide of block number 4. Here. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:02.000 How this applies to remediation, how we take that information that we learned in science and apply it to society, which is the definition of an engineer. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:08.000 I think my one of my favorite authors actually said it best. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.000 Science can amuse and fascinate us all. But it's engineering that changes the world. 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:32.000 Sir Isaac Asimov, couple years back, as I indicated, we had actually done an internal study of the various environmental sequenced triggery, refined conceptual site models that we actually had in our library, and we were looking at the lessons learned what what information was there we have all 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:32.000 we've done all this work over 10 to 15 years. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.000 What information is there can we capture and bring that forward? 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:38.000 And I'll go over some of those information or some of those lessons learned at the end of the slide. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:56.000 Right now. The library has about 58 of these environmental sequenced photography, refined conceptual site models both on a regional scale installation specific, maybe even site-specific. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:04.000 As far as it's overall scale. However, the United States Air Force has jumped in with both feet here. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.000 This is a very important approach for the United States Air Force. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.000 We've actually used it with some of these case studies. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:21.000 We've seen the benefits of it. And over the next 4 years we're going to be conducting an additional 43 investigations at installations of the United States. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:24.000 The first case study. I'd like to go over some of you. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.000 All may may know. Dave Parsons group from ae Com. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:50.000 And Mr. Ryan Samuels actually conducted the sequenced article, in the 2,020 timeframe which we use to leverage that, to use to our great advantage and benefit for this actual system deployment, this is a just a brief overview of some of the key milestones and 00:04:50.000 --> 00:05:02.000 timeframes, where I really want to focus our efforts on on the last 3 bullets, we actually gleaned or took the information that we learned from the environmental sequence stratography. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:19.000 And in July of 2,022, we got the Air Force contractors and actually deployed to Canon Air Force Base, where we conducted a more of a workshop and came up with an optimized design. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:19.000 We'd implemented or gleaned what we could from the environmental sequence. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:45.000 Stratography, and designed a remedial system around that overall approach construction of that actual system starts this month may of 2023 with systems commissioning anticipated march of 2,024, the key point here is that we went from concept to basis of the design in just 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.000 4 months. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.000 From the actual, so how do we use the sort of information when we approach these sites? 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:09.000 We knew we had a problem at Canon Air Force, base surface flow seems to be one of the culprits we had multiple, a triple F release sites there in the southeast corner of a canon Clovis, New Mexico and all the groundwater flow in a very 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:16.000 simplistic, this is a very simplistic depiction here, but it all flows towards a Playa in the southeast corner. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.000 Unfortunately, our regulatory community actually put this under a record permitted unit. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:31.000 So we really couldn't get at the actual pla itself to deploy one of our original design concept, which was to do more of a closed-loop recirculation type system. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:50.000 However, we didn't let that Andrews, and we continued forth the actual groundwater itself once it's in contaminated works its way to the actual pla penetrates the black water, draw formation breaches the capstone calcichi and then starts working its way. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:02.000 Through the actual subsurface. The upper Oglala formation, and then ultimately impacting the groundwater table and Lower Olisl formation where it's far more gravel sand, far more permeable. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:14.000 If you actually look at the figure close enough, you can actually see how that water actually migrates through the subsurface when it ultimately impacts the groundwater table. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:25.000 I'm sorry I can show you, but I, the laser pointer, really doesn't seem to work here with that, said Whoops. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:33.000 With that, said one of the interesting features at Canon Air Force Base is the actual valleys of the actual Docham group itself. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:42.000 We actually have a lot of it's an interesting groundwater flow migration pathway which all of this ultimately discharges to the southeast corner. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.000 So we actually have a choke point and remediation specialists, love choke points. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Everything's come into us. We can lay out our defenses appropriately captured before it actually goes off the base. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:11.000 This is an exaggerated view of the of the docking group underneath Canon Air Force Base, and if you were to just basically take your glass of water poured in right in the middle of the of the three-dimensional perspective, there you would see that all of it would flow and ultimately 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:16.000 cross towards the southeast corner of the installation. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:33.000 This is a cross section, the B, 2 B prime transect, as we are approaching the southeast corner, and, as you can see, if we have the capstone collegiate up here, and then we have clays sands as we start working our way down to the orange the orange or tan 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:38.000 areas down here. And that's the form more permeable. Ogallala aquifer itself. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:58.000 Unfortunately, we actually have also a depiction on this figure, showing that we have 3 groundwater elevations actually being represented here, which indicates another problem at Canon Air Force Base is that groundwater at this particular site is being mined by irrigation local farmers putting a lot of stress on the 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:07.000 aquifer. Unfortunately, in this area, groundwater is, we have groundwater declination anywhere between 2 and 3 feet on an annual basis. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:26.000 The Ogallala aquifer right now in some locations, is only 30 to 40 feet thick. So, unfortunately, in the 2030 time frame, maybe the first first half of the next decade, things are going to get fairly interesting out at canon. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.000 With that in mind one of the things after we got to the June or the I'm sorry. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.000 The July meeting, we actually sat down, and we started working with what information we actually had. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:48.000 We had collected some information from the field on a what's known as a preliminary design investigation, and we ultimately laid out a solution that worked around the actual rick or landfill. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:10:05.000 And again we couldn't get at the actual pla, and we decided that instead of rejecting the water arms, using in the water as a recirculation, we would rein inject the water into that paleo valley along the eastern perimeter and then try to use that as a way of 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:12.000 discharging the water under a non-time critical removal. Action feature under circle. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:17.000 So in July 2,022, we got the team together. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:36.000 We sat around, thought about all the information, and then, you know, as we all do, we took that information after we had a massive headache we took everyone out to dinner, sat around the table, and we laid this thing out, and that really is a napkin ladies and gentlemen, it's really that's 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:46.000 exactly how it works. We laid this thing out initially and we're not getting served, and the next day we decided to go out, plan a flag. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:53.000 This is where it all starts, and in 4 months we actually had a design that was ready to go out for bids. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:11:11.000 Since the information we had pulled from the environmental sequence, strictography was so exact we were able to compare it with other wells across the installation to determine exactly where we wanted to lay out our groundwater extraction wells our performance monitoring wells and take advantage 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:18.000 of that information even go so far as to lay out exactly what the screens look like before we'd even drilled hold number one. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:18.000 We were then able to even go so far as to use an existing base. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:31.000 Well, that was in a similar formation to determine exactly what the capture zone would look like as well as the overall drawdown pump and radius of influence. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:40.000 So we leveraged all that information to come up with a remedial design that's been put out for street, and we're starting to build this system right now. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:46.000 So unfortunately, we don't have the system up and running so we can't give you how well the thing is working. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:12:04.000 But we do know that rapid deployment from the drawing board to field implementation was aplished in less than one year, using a non-critical removal function under circle combination of yeah ess synoptic groundwater measurements and contamination contaminated data for 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.000 contaminant data accelerated the remedial approach. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:16.000 This will benefit off site receptors and should be realized within the furry first 5 years of treatment system operation. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:27.000 Furthermore, the treatment system that was being deployed will not exacerbate the decrease in groundwater table at Canon Air Force Base. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:31.000 Kurtlin, Air force, base bulk fuels. Facility is our second case. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:40.000 Study. And this is a fun one, if you know anything about this particular site, we suspect that the actual release occurred between 1,953 and pre 1,975. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:13:02.000 And that's because Edb actually was actually used as a lead scavenger in the actual aviation fuels and it was discontinued in the 75 time frame, which is primarily one of the contaminants of concerned at this particular site officially the fuel release was discovered pre 2 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:11.000 1,000 soil, vapor extraction was operated from the 2,003 timeframe to about 12 years worth. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:29.000 We were able to effectively pull out three-quarters of a 1 million pounds or equivalent gallons of contamination in 2,014 the United States Air Force actually committed to installing 8 groundwater extraction wells using the brute force method essentially saying here's 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:42.000 We're going to put one here, here, here, here, here, and here to start the Edb migration that is actually up underneath some of the residential communities. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:14:03.000 Oddly enough, in January of 2,015, the Regulators, the New Mexico Environment Department issued a notice of violation that they thought the Air Force was not moving fast enough to get this get a treatment system actually in the Field and threaten the United States Air force with a bill 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:12.000 of 900, approximately $900,000. So Air Force then turned to Es to solve this particular problem as well Pre. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:19.000 2,015. We had a pre-ecess lithostratigraphic correlation. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:20.000 We really had some hard time correlating this data. We really didn't have a lot of faith in this. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:31.000 So we actually turned to some other sequenced triggers that were actually in this audience right now. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:40.000 And we got a much better or further refined a cross section and one of the things we noticed is that we actually have some of these. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:53.000 As we're moving to the northeast, we actually have a fairly good correlation of dipping fine grain sands that actually created a channel moving up to the northeast, which is happens to be the same location. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:15:03.000 The of the actual migration. So the solution for this one was not installation of 8 very deep, I mean, I guess I skip too far. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.000 The groundwater out here is over 500 feet down. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Getting to it is not altogether easy. So getting out there and deploying 3 wells instead of 8 was a cost avoidance, and as it turns out, so the idea was to deploy 8 extraction wells, we deployed 3 and then in 2,018 we deployed a fourth. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:33.000 Because? 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:52.000 Someone wanted it, but we didn't need it, because in 2,015 on the left hand side, as the Edb plume, as it's migrating off base in going up under Ridgecrest Drive, southeast 2,019 the plume had collapsed on itself really 00:15:52.000 --> 00:16:10.000 don't have much out there, and it's been pretty much aspmptotic since 2,019, and that was just 3 wells with a fourth as a as a nicety, as a symbolic gesture, and on the 30 first of December 2,015 the 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.000 team actually went out to the actual site without a roof on without a roof, over the actual treatment building. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:30.000 As it was snowing, they opened the electrical box and through the switch to turn the system on, took the picture and sent it to the Regulators, and said, It's running. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:48.000 Visualization is a key component of how you present this information and presenting the information to the regulars, when you can take three-dimensional data and overlay it on the environmental sequence stratography and share exactly how it's interacting with the actual site it goes a long way 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.000 to demonstrate nature and extent to a regulatory community. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:17:04.000 This supports our overall narrative that we have both vertical and lateral extent of impacts of soils, soil vapors, groundwater contamination is well defined. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.000 The sequence, triggers, fee soil, vapors, ln. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:15.000 Apple detections, Groundwater Sampling procedures have produced a very highly refined conceptual site model. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.000 This was key in getting the senior leadership of Nmd. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:32.000 And to announce, during July of 2,021, that the investigation phase at this particular site was coming to an end, in that the project could move along to the next step in the rigid process again. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:46.000 This was a corrective action. We learned some of that information and were able to apply that information to optimize our design instead of doing 8 extraction wells, we only needed 3. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:55.000 We installed 4 combination of ess recognition of the dipping fine grain beds as well as contaminant data, accelerated or remedial, approach. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.000 Again the threat was in January of 2,015. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:13.000 We got it all done in one year. The pium was collapsed on itself in 3 and a half years we've pumped 1.4 billion gallons we've used it for both irrigation as well as re-injection. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:30.000 Approximately 3 quarters of a 1 million gallons of of jet fuel have been removed to date, and the combination of Es and three-dimensional data visualization assisted in advancing this site towards the corrective measures of valuation in my last case, study we're 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.000 actually some of us in the room are actually coming up with a paper on this and working on that. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Now this is site St. 69. A Wastewell tank at Eglin, Air Force, Base, Duke Field down in the Panhandle of Florida. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:58.000 This particular site. You know, it was a or automotive maintenance facility out of military installation, fixing those engines, and whenever you have that the the residuals are all the bad news inside a building, what do you do you plummet to a tank out? 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:11.000 Back, put it over a stone leach field, and why there was a 6 inch hole in the bottom of that tank no one really knows, but that's how the contamination got loose in the environment. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:27.000 The environmental setting out at this particular site is roughly where in the sandy sand and gravel aquifer groundwater thickness is about 200 feet thick down to the aquitar that's protecting the florida aquifer broken into shallow 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:33.000 intermediate and deep with the bulk of the contamination in the actual deep zone itself. 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:37.000 Source area mediation was accomplished by excavation. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:51.000 So what we were left with was a pce tetrachloroethylene, a very low concentration device, diffuse plume, primarily impacting the intermediate zone, and deep in about 60 acres in size. 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:56.000 The interesting feature about this particular site is based on the 20 years of sampling data. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:56.000 They have at it. We've never really seen any tce Dce or vinyl chloride production whatsoever. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:13.000 So in, situ, by enhanced bioremediation, which was initially thought of, we pretty much gave it the pitch we were mother Nature wasn't going to allow us to to implement that technology. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:17.000 We didn't see any reason fighting or on it. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:27.000 So the next 3 slides I kind of want to show you the evolution of the Ess process, or when you start looking at the cross-sections, we had pre 2,000. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:31.000 This is a traditional geologic cross session at St. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:38.000 69, and everyone in the room here should be able to look at that slide and say, Yep, gonna put a great big, huge question mark right in the middle of that slide. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:42.000 You really don't know what's going on, neither do we. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:47.000 But then, fortunately for us, this was a performance based remedial contract. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:59.000 So it was very fortunate for us that the Air Force had gone out in the 2,012 time frame, and conducted additional subsurface investigations and started collecting more and more information about the actual site itself. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:12.000 But even this information was not digested properly. But you can see that we're starting to see quite a few more layers and formations, things of interest in actually in these boring logs. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:20.000 But the the overall for this particular site, the geologist that was actually working with us in basically characterized it as a big old sample. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:28.000 We had no reason to question that. I mean, everyone here has been down to the beaches and in Florida and Alabama you walk those beaches. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:34.000 That's a white sugar sand, right? It's it looks like a sandbox. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:43.000 So when your regulator in Florida turned around and said, Well, please prove to us you're not going to spread contamination beyond the site boundaries. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:46.000 What does an engineer do? He builds a model. He goes out and he gets his groundwater flow. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:55.000 He built a box model, 7 layers, and then calibrates it with the most up-to-date potent metric surface information. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:00.000 We got a calibration on this one, basically a 9.5, which is okay, just okay. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:10.000 And we were trying to simulate a groundwater recirculation pump and treat system where we had actually installed. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.000 The idea was to stall again, using the brute force method. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:20.000 5. Groundwater extraction wells in key areas where we thought there was contamination. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000 We had recirculation wells. We even had sprinkler irrigation on this site, all being treated with a Stat. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:35.000 400, multi-trade air stripper to treat the groundwater prior to reinjection, and on paper the system looked dynamite. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:40.000 We were excited, that is, until. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:48.000 We turned the silly thing on, and groundwater contamination of the deep zone started to increase. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:56.000 This was not necessarily a surprise at the time, because the whole system was designed to flip the aquifer 3 to 5 times. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:08.000 That was how we were gonna get from. Maybe the low concert low teen levels to flip the aquifer number of times and get it down to the Gctl of 3 in the State of Florida. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:13.000 So like. I said we weren't too surprised when the initial data came in. 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:19.000 It's just unfortunate concentrations kept going, up, kept going up over the next couple of sampling events which at one. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:22.000 So we. So I sat down with the project manager. And we basically started scratching our heads. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:29.000 And the concept that we may have missed something was not really new at the time. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:41.000 So we actually turned to Ess, hired a consultant to take a look at what information we had, and to see if we actually had missed something. And Mr. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:53.000 Colin Planck, who is with us here today, was the one that actually performed this analysis in his opening solvo to me was that this is not a sandbox it's quite a bit more than just a sandbox. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:24:02.000 And he started showing me these depictions of the multiple cross-sections and layers and formations that we were actually in. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:08.000 And you know, as you can see here from the actual potential source location, it's actually over. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.000 What's known as an estuary inside valley. Fill. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:17.000 There's actually a green clay. That's separate the intermediate and deep. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:24.000 And unfortunately, that particular release point was actually over an area where it could actually get into the depths with little to no trouble. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:41.000 But, as you see, as it starts interacting with these low, permeable layers as it starts working its way into the into the subsurface, the contamination is going to start doing a stair-stepping effect as it starts moving towards the actual shoreline. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.000 The. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:44.000 As as you know, as we as I'd indicated, we. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:54.000 This is a Planar view, showing that the estuing inside Valley fill was actually missing. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Actually up in the source area and the green clays actually separate the intermediate and the deep were located actually in a different area. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:09.000 This was fairly in at the time, being an engineer, I had not really been sold on this overall concept. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:32.000 This overall approach I not had the cool-aid, so to speak, but as I was interfacing with the sequenced photographer, and we were discussing this, he started hitting me with language, you know, depositional environments and faces and deltaic formations and 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:44.000 wasn't quite sure about where this was going, but he said something that to me you actually cross from the geologist or the sequencer photographer world actually into the engineers world. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:26:00.000 And he actually referred to that the transmissivity was actually greater parallel to the shoreline than in the transverse, and that caught me because, as the modeler, I would have assumed isotropy at this site hydraulic conductivity in the X direction and the y direction, were the 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:06.000 same, what he was indicating to me is that that basic assumption for this particular site was actually wrong. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.000 So Colin, and moved along to another section of his presentation, and I'm sure it was terribly interesting, and I probably should have been listening. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:21.000 Colin, and I'm sorry I wasn't. But I was secretly rerunning the groundwater model, praying you were wrong, sadly. 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:25.000 He was not wrong. He was actually right. The groundwater model changed. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:31.000 I stopped this presentation. I needed a three-dimensional representation of what was actually dealing with. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:45.000 We went from the 7 Layer model to an 11 layer model, we expanded it, recalibrated, reran the predicted time to achieve closure, and it was well beyond our period of performance, so we knew that we were really in trouble. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:27:03.000 So I started working with Colin. We came up with a solution where we would install 2 additional wells and key locations in the pathway that this actual migration and we're able to change the course of this project rather drastically. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:19.000 What you see here is the predicted. The blue line is the predicted estimated mass that we were expecting to see, and if you were to extrapolate that blue line, it would get close to the X-intercept in the year 2,032 we had actually now by 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:26.000 installing 2 additional wells in key locations, adjusting the variable frequency drives, stealing capacity. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:33.000 Because, remember, the treatment system at this site had always been 400 gallons a minute and no more. 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.000 So we actually had to steal capacity from other locations and transfer those to the new wells. 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.000 We put them in, we took around a sampling at the same time. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:41.000 We had roughly 45 pounds of pce. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:54.000 Actually throughout the intermediate in Deepstones, and the next couple of sampling events, we significantly reduce that overall contamination. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:58.000 How are we doing on time? Gee, very good, thank you. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:06.000 So what we did is by just implementing 2 additional wells without really radically changing the design, we were able to change the course of this overall remedial project and get it back on track. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:13.000 If we had had iss early in this process, and we're able to design a remedial system around that information. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:26.000 Odds are good. We could very well have achieved our pay of performance in a cheap side closure. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.000 So from the Duke Field study we reduced the timeframe by an estimated 10 years. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:36.000 That's kind of a kind of a loose number. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:55.000 To be quite honest, but if you look at this, and from the perspective of saying that the operational cost of this system to rent the actual airstripper, sampling, writing reports, getting them submitted labor, blowing, variable frequency driver in now and again came in about $70,000 a year extrapolated 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:13.000 over 10 years, that's $700,000, and that's not really an insignificant number implementation of Es prior to the performance based remedial contract handing it off would have likely resulted in achieving the overall performance milestone or cyclosure and I wouldn't have had 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:17.000 to sit in front of Dr. Glover in his team, saying, we messed up. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:32.000 Result of Esa. You remember that, do you? You do results of Es provided a better understanding of the site, geology, and means of optimizing the remedial design and experienced educated sequence photographer was key. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.000 In fact, I'm really advocating from here on, out that the remediation engineers as well as sequenced triggers work hand in hand. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:48.000 We need to figure out how we break this model of remedial investigation, feasibility, study, hand it off. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.000 You stop all the work in the remedial investigation phase, and you put this thing up on the shelf. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:00.000 And, as someone here recently said, environmental sequence, stratography or conceptual site models should never be put on a shelf. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.000 They are a living document. As new information comes in, you refine that picture. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:12.000 Regardless of the status implementation of Ess can produce a significant project. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:17.000 Savings implementation early in the process is highly recommended. 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:22.000 Optimization of the existing remedial system at this particular site was accomplished in near real time. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:27.000 In fact, before Colin had actually finished his presentation to me, my drillers were going. 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:29.000 I had the 3 or 2 locations. I install it. 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:37.000 I drilled 2 wells, I actually installed a third as a backup will, just in case I needed it. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:57.000 Back to the overall study that we had conducted in and during afghk we had pulled out all of these various sites, and this is some of the takeaways that we had actually were able to glean from that particular study in general Esf Methale methodology, provides a better understanding of site 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:08.000 geology, and a more effective means of designing, installing, and optimizing a remedial system, minimizing sight uncertainties prevents overdesigning of a remedial system. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:09.000 We saw that at Curlin we had the budget for 8. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:16.000 Wells, we didn't need it. There's there's a tendency. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:23.000 There is a tendency of the remediation and retail engineer to when they're faced with uncertainties. 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:23.000 What does he do? He inherently overdesigns. 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:43.000 He puts in additional backups, and if you had the ess in your disposal, you may not have had to do those to do those additional expansions to compensate for that uncertainty, increasing site knowledge and identification identification of key hydrostratographic units is critical to achieving 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:56.000 more stringent regulatory requirements. This is an interesting one, I've presented this at Belle now and what I mean by that is as a remediation. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:05.000 Engineers or professionals as the regulatory requirements for your particular contaminant, especially in the world of emerging contemand. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:12.000 As those values continue to fall. And now we're threatening the single-digit part per trillion. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:20.000 Your knowledge at that individual site has got to increase, to be successful, to achieve that compliance, you have to know almost everything. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:36.000 There is to know about that site, to refine that picture in your conceptual site model so that you can address those tough questions nowadays a single part per trillion can literally ruin your day. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:40.000 So there's that inverse proportionality. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:52.000 There is almost a relationship between the 2 as the values decrease your site, knowledge has got to increase regardless of site, status, implementation of Es approach. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:56.000 Whether it's restoration or remedial flow. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:10.000 Trains can produce significant cost, avoidance, and reduce your overall life cycle cost one of the takeaways that we had from the actual study conducted by Aztec that it would reduce the remedial process by an average of 2 to 4 years. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:15.000 We actually had some sites that actually had significantly better results than that. 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.000 And experience. Formally educated sequencer chicken for is essential. 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:30.000 We were able to look at what we had actually had, and come up with that extrapolation based on the work that actually been performed by various groups, and the conceptual remedial design and field deployment. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:44.000 And this is pretty much tailored for some of those sites that we were deploying a non-time critical removal action solution was achieved within one year. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:47.000 So with that, and I know that's that was quick. 00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:50.000 I'll take any questions alright. Remember, if you have questions in the room, no applause is welcome. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:59.000 Good. You can fly. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:05.000 If there are questions in the room we'll raise our hands. 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:16.000 I do have questions online. So since we have time, let me lead in with this first question, can you please define or explain, quote, plume, collapse? 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:19.000 Does this mean that your plume reached Mcs in most areas? 00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:31.000 The answer is, yes, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this, but I'm gonna do it anyways. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:31.000 This particular plume that we see on the screen in 2,017. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:55.000 There's we have a monitoring well network here of about 182 monitoring wells across this site, as we work our work our way down range, we actually had had the Edb concentration above the Mcl for more than half then since that time. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.000 We've been below non-detect in most areas. 00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:07.000 In fact, there was only one or 2 actual wells actually underneath any of the residential areas that have any detectable concentrations. 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:22.000 We have been when and so when I refer to plume collapse, I mean the remedial solution has actually produced non-determinetects on a significant portion of that contamination that iss north of Richcrest drive southeast all right excellent I'll see if there's 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:25.000 any questions in the room. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:25.000 Again. I have another question that came in online. We do have an international audience. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:28.000 So I'm paraphrasing what I believe is coming into a translation app. 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:43.000 But they have questions regarding large-scale site models, and if you have any tips or have found that there's a different model that you tend to use for large scale as opposed to smaller scale modeling. 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:51.000 This is personal preference, regional scale models. 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:59.000 I typically like to use the finite element modeling packages. 00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:03.000 That's usually produces better results on a much more regional scale. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:03.000 However, the finite differences, especially with the recent advances in the MoD. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:14.000 Flow codes, unstructured grids have produced, you know, on much smaller scales, maybe installation level. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:19.000 Maybe even plume specific layers or models. I like to use the more of the finite differences. 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:29.000 I think the finite element models which still can be used are really designed for a much more regional approach. 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:36.000 All right. Excellent! Have you observed rebound, after initially reaching your remedial goals? 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:45.000 Rebound during the remedial. There's always that, and that's one of the features of environmental sequence, stratography, something called matrix diffusion effects. 00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:57.000 And by understanding that actually at these, when you start looking at the overall hydrostratographic units, you're going to start seeing areas of lows, peaks, and valleys, areas that actually pinch out. 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:02.000 And if contamination works its way into those particular features, such as, let's say, God forbid! 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:04.000 You're in a valley. And you actually have a Dean Apple. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:18.000 It can work its way into that low. And then it starts to make that diffusion actually can work its way into the the Aquatard of the strategy that's surrounding it, and actually operate as a source to come. 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:20.000 So. Yes, we're always, and we're currently actively doing restoration. So we actually haven't turned anything off it to actually examine rebound. 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:31.000 But that's still to be to come and it's part of a regulator. 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:39.000 Decision, point. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:45.000 All right. I don't see any additional questions in the queue, but I do see a hands popping up in the room all right. 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:53.000 We've got some action. I'm moving the microphone over to our first in-room question. 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:57.000 It's hard to tell from the presentations, but it seemed like the sights were at relatively different scales, and I was curious about a few things. 00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:24.000 First, the relative cost of doing Ess for the different size sites, you know, as I guess, just the cost difference for the different size sites, and then also how much data you had for the sites that existed, that was able, you were able to use versus how much additional data collection. 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:31.000 In the way of geophysics or something else that you had to do, for each of the various sites. 00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:37.000 Thanks. Okay, good question. And I'm gonna get myself into trouble here. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:54.000 United States Air Force. We have what's known as the Environmental Restoration Information management system leveling referred to as Herb Buns, where you've been collecting data at this in depositing that in this access database for quite a number of years we can actually, leverage a significant 00:38:54.000 --> 00:39:02.000 amount of that information. All the boring logs are supposed to be appropriately logged and therein lies part of the problem. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:10.000 If you look at some of the boring logs that were actually collected years ago back into the 2,000 time frame, everyone's using. 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:20.000 And I'm not, you know. It's just a form at the time they actually put this information on a like a core of engineers form for measuring the actual soil types. 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:26.000 Maybe Union, looking at the colors of the actual soils that you're trying to characterize that subsurface. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:43.000 And then maybe you get a little bit of thickness, but it from those, but from those from those forms then you're supposed to write in a little description, and then you're supposed to populate that actually, in our overall information management system, there's so much more to environmental sequence 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:50.000 stratography there's so much more information that comes out out of that hole to provide a much better interpretation. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:55.000 We actually discussed this last week at the Patel Conference, Miss Dr. 00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:05.000 Jesse Myers at University of Iowa, has actually been attached to come up with a new form to look at how we can capture more information, as it's coming up. 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.000 But to answer your question directly, and I actually think Colin, you may be able to help me on this. 00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:19.000 We actually as far as I don't know of any additional data gaps we have been working with fairly extensive sites and the information is readily available. 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:25.000 But I think, Colin, you were asked that question on a webinar during right Patterson. 00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:36.000 Is that the case? Yeah, I don't recall the exact occasion, but so the costs with an ess analysis are associated with sort of 2 to 3 components. 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:40.000 There's the organization of your existing legacy data. 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:54.000 If it's in a mess, then there's a lift required to organize all your lithologic geophysical data, get it spatially organized in a geospatial database before the photographer can attack it. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:59.000 And we look at that, look at log quality, select the sort of golden spike locations that have the best combination of depth and log quality. 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:07.000 And so that's kind of like first intermediate step. 00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:11.000 And so that really depends on the size of your data set and the quality of the data. 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:11.000 Then there's the actual interpretation time. 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:18.000 And so that's level of effort associated with a senior strutographer and a junior geologist. 00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:26.000 Helping out. And that is typically on the scale of 2 to 3 weeks or more of time. 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:36.000 And really, that is also a matter of you. Know you you kind of get what you get there. 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:40.000 It's pencils down at X amount of hours. 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:45.000 But that's always a challenge. We're always going to want. 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:48.000 You have to kind of beat us back a little bit, you know. 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:51.000 We always want a little more time to think things through, and then there's, you know, the time spent communicating the content of the Csm. 00:41:51.000 --> 00:42:10.000 And or providing services relative to keeping it living right? So as new lithologic data comes in and you want to alter the interpretation or test some of the ess hypotheses, there's costs associated with that. 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.000 So it really has to be kind of tailored to each project. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:35.000 But you know, we typically find sweet spots. You know the in the 50 to 150 K range for an Es analysis depending on the on the on the size of the site and the complexity of the problems some of the recent work that's been done by Afghanistan last year, we did 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:47.000 approximately 12 of them, and had one of these organizations running around collecting the information, digesting most of what we actually had in the information management system and their turnaround time was on average, about a month. 00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:49.000 There were some sites that were a little bit more challenging, and where additional information was clearly not available. 00:42:49.000 --> 00:43:04.000 And we've recommended some additional soil boring that would actually be collected during the remedial investigation, and we put those on hold until that information is readily available. 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:16.000 So it's, you know, it's kind of a mixed bag, but you can do an installation if you're if you have competent information readily available in about a month. 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:21.000 You agree with that, Dave? 00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:29.000 I do. I I think, Colin, the way you summarize this great, you know we've looked at this for a lot of the Csms. 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:35.000 That AI coms done? Yeah, from 50,000 $1,000 car. 00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:41.000 I say private investigation that price you up to 10 million dollar Ppac or eyes, and the number always for the Csm. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:55.000 Always comes back around 10%, you know. So you know, if you're looking at something like Kurtland, it's probably going to scale back because the trilling cost is so expensive when they're drilling to you know, a 1,000 feet, or whatever you need to drill to the drilling 00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.000 process drive, but but overall, and I think column the way con somebody like the Csm of living thing, you should be coming back. 00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:05.000 You should be integrating data to go. So it's not. 00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:10.000 It's not a one thing like it's this much to to do with any Ss base. 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:15.000 Csm. But you know, generally speaking, you know, that that gets you in the ballpark. 00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.000 If you know where your budget is going to land, you should be putting about 10% to your Csm, you know. 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:26.000 And that's not only Ess, so we've done 10 million dollars when we're that includes groundwater modeling, you know. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:26.000 That's where that sort of gets you in a ballpark. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:31.000 And sort of where you should be. 00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:38.000 Yeah, and so for these sites, no additional data, we're collected. 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:49.000 It was existing data, but more and more we are recommending acquiring new geophysical log suites through casing. 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:58.000 Many logs can be acquired in existing wells, and that provides a a more consistent superior database. 00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:05.000 That's easier to work with. But for these sites it was data that were already existing. 00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:08.000 And that's that's a good point, Mike. 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:12.000 One of the interesting things about this is again with the United States Air Force. 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:18.000 We're actually collecting or utilizing that information that we've had sitting around on a shelf for years. 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:24.000 And again that was back under the time when all we were really looking at doing is collecting information on soil, texture, color. 00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:31.000 Maybe some zone thicknesses. But again, as I'd already indicated, there's so much more information that's coming up out of a boring log. 00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:35.000 That rec characterization is we would I would recommend it, and I think we have to wrap up here, so I'll keep this short. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:44.000 But that was a big part of the benefit in having a group come in at Curtland. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:53.000 Was that the the team there had basically lost faith that their lethology data and their geophysical, they're downhill geophysical data resistivity logs. 00:45:53.000 --> 00:46:02.000 We're in any kind of agreement, right? And so they were looking for really clear clay signals and the resistivity law versus the cuttings from the a rotary drilling, and so on. 00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:06.000 And and you know they're just instead getting, you know, gravel sand, angular gravel, angular gravel in their logs. 00:46:06.000 --> 00:46:11.000 And so they had no faith in their geophysical data. 00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:14.000 And we came in and looked at it and identified that air rotary, drilling creates a bias and that it blows away a lot of the finds. 00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:23.000 And then also, when we're looking at the cuttings, we're seeing indications of fines. 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:32.000 And yet we are so familiar with those types of data sets that like that is this, that is the signal. 00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:40.000 And and then additionally observing rounded grains that have been pulverized by the air rollery drilling such that they were all logged as angular. 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:54.000 But you can clearly see rounded edges. These were. These were pebble and Kabul fluvial gravels that had been obliterated by the drilling process, making them all appear angular to a junior lager, when in fact, it was a clear indicator of the fluvial 00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:00.000 channel, fill of the Paleo of the Paleo Rio Grande. 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:16.000 So coming in looking at how your your geophysical proxy is matching up with your lithogic data from a little more of an experienced perspective, and then applying some of those phase models really helps put a low-pass filter on your signal-to-noise ratio and really increases 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:20.000 the value of your of your data in hand. 00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:27.000 One more concept. If you ever needed a better example of where the geologists and the remedial engineer need to work together, you just saw it. 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:32.000 There's a lot of information that was just transmitted there, and none of that's captured anywhere. 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:38.000 It's really eyes on subject. So time is up and thank you.