Project 1 - Transport and Remediation

Project Title	Transport, Transformation and Remediation of Contaminants in the Environment
Personnel	Project Leader: Dr. Kate Scow, Professor of Land, Air and Water Resources Senior Investigators: Dr. Graham Fogg, Professor of Hydrogeology & Hydrogeologist Dr. Thomas Young, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Issue	Contaminants from wastewater treatment, biofuels, and pesticides pose chemical exposure risks to humans and the environment.
Objectives	i) determine how environmental fate and transport processes that act upon contaminants control the level and duration of potential exposure ii) develop useful methods and approaches to estimate exposure concentrations and, in collaboration with other Superfund projects, biological effects.
Research Activities	Our research works on providing fundamental knowledge about the processes controlling the transport and transformation of contaminants, especially those related to complex mixtures; developing molecular-based and biosensor technologies and integrated tools for monitoring bioremediation and natural attenuation; and developing new models of reactive transport in groundwater and applying them to predict chemical exposure risks and remediation. We will consider three complex mixtures and their constituents as examples of Superfund-relevant and emerging issues related to fate, transport and transformation of contaminants in the environment. These include: i) biosolids from waste water treatment that contain pharmaceuticals, personal care and household products such as TCC/TCS and PBDEs, nanoparticles, and other chemicals of concern; ii) biofuels and fuel additives that include oxygenates; iii) formulated pesticides such as pyrethroids. This grouping of compounds allows us to examine in a unique and integrated way the roles of particle size, surface characteristics, and co-occurring substances on contaminant fate and transport.
Publications	2010 - Most Recent 2005 - 2010 Project Period