Introduction to Phytoremediation of Contaminated Groundwater

Abstract

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011937578# Springer ScienceþBusiness Media B.V. 2012 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover image: # 2011 JupiterImages CorporationPrinted on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) The deeper the roots, the higher the reach To Lori, Kaylee, and Ava-May our roots always find deep water.. Preface "Nature is driven by water"Leonardo da Vinci (from Richter 1888)Groundwater is one of our most important natural resources. Groundwater provides drinking water to more than 50% of the population of the United States. This fact may not surprise a domestic-well owner, but may surprise municipal water customers who drink tap water supplied by wells. A greater percentage of the population in other countries, particularly in the developing world, relies on groundwater. Groundwater usually requires minimal treatment prior to drinking as groundwater is filtered during flow through porous sediments. Moreover, groundwater can be decades to thousands of years old and, therefore, contain precipitation that fell long before the production and release of modern-day contaminants.These facts do not imply groundwater is protected from contamination. On the contrary, groundwater resources can be more vulnerable to contamination than surface water. For example, contaminant sources may be located a short vertical distance above shallow groundwater that typically is discharged to surface water or pumped by wells after only a few years in the subsurface with correspondingly little time for contaminant cleansing to occur. Alternatively, the slow groundwater-flow rates characteristic of deep groundwater means that contamination will take more time to be discharged from aquifers. In both cases, contamination of groundwater should be avoided if at all possible. If contamination occurs, remediation of groundwater to pre-contamination conditions should be accomplished as efficiently, as quickly, and as cost effectively as possible to ensure that current and future demands on the groundwater resource can be met.Phytoremediation is one of many potential alternatives that can be used to restore contaminated groundwater. In general, phytoremediation is the use of living organisms-plantsto restore contaminated environments to less harmful levels. It is commonly accepted that plants have the potential to cleanse the air, such as taking in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and releasing oxygen (O 2 ). But plants also have the potential to cleanse water. This is because water controls all aspects of plant survival; a glance at the waterless and plantless moon quickly confirms this statement. From seed to maturit...

Long-Term Quantification of Stream-Aquifer Exchange in a Variably-Saturated Heterogeneous Environment

“…Nevertheless, discharge/ recharge conditions at Scott Bottom are affected by a number of interrelated factors: a) the experimental site has a shallow water table along the creek, which is being replenished with regional flow due to a gaining stream system; b) the roots of Eucalyptus trees extend to a depth of more than 5 m, drawing water from both the vadose zone and groundwater; c) high evapotranspiration demand under the semi-arid conditions of the catchment; and d) relatively less rainfall during the study period. This type of situation generally exists in areas where the evapotranspiration demand is very high in comparison to precipitation and an easy access to shallow groundwater is maintained by deep rooted vegetation along the stream (Landmeyer 2012). Under shallow water table conditions and deep rooted systems, it is mainly vegetation that controls groundwater recharge, as observed in this study.…”

Nature‐Based Remediation: Growing Opportunities in the Harnessing of Natural Systems

“…Poplars ( Populus deltoides and the hybrid Populus deltoides × nigra DN‐34) such as those shown depicted in Figure have shown particularly efficient uptake and removal of the petroleum constituents benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. The trees and microbes worked in concert to express enzymatic compounds that degraded the petroleum compounds (Landemeyer ).…”

Phytoremediation of slightly brackish, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon‐contaminated groundwater from 250 ft below land surface: A pilot‐scale study using salt‐tolerant, endophyte‐enhanced hybrid poplar trees at a Superfund site in the Central Valley of California, April‒November 2019

“…PAHs to carbon dioxide (Landmeyer, 2011). The detection of a particular contaminant in an in vivo passive sampler, therefore, reflects only the contaminant that remains after these Phase 1 mineralization reactions.…”

“…Concentrations of TPH are reported in mg/kg and other contaminants are reported in µg/kg. F I G U R E 6 Schematic showing pilot-scale experimental design and the distribution of totes containing PD1-inoculated trees, regular trees, planting medium only, and groundwater only [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]2.8 | In vivo passive samplersPAHs in creosote, such as naphthalene, have log K ow values between 1.5 and 2.9 and are in the range of log K ow values of compounds demonstrated to be taken up by trees(Landmeyer, 2011;Nichols et al, 2014). To determine if PAHs, as well as VOCs also present in creosote such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, were taken up by the trees, in vivo passive samplers were used(Landmeyer & O'Neill, 2018).…”