Collaborations with EPA on Contaminated Site Hydrology
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is developing tools and methods to help assess the fate and transport of anthropogenic and geologically sourced contaminants in the water cycle at waste sites throughout the nation.
The cooperative efforts at most of these waste sites include conceptual, analytical, and numerical modeling that improve our understanding of groundwater contamination in natural conditions and after the construction or implementation of remedial solutions. The USGS facilitates the monitoring, evaluation, and optimization of remediation efforts to minimize public risk, mitigate contamination, and expedite clean-up.
The study of anthropogenic and geologically sourced contaminants includes a wide spectrum of chemicals, the behavior and occurrence of which varies among diverse, highly complex environmental settings. Geologically sourced contaminants include uranium, radon, arsenic and other toxic substances. Anthropogenic contaminants include chlorinated ethenes (such as trichloroethylene), carbon tetrachloride, perchlorate, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and others. The USGS uses local and national expertise to assist EPA in technical evaluation, thereby improving the cost-effectiveness of clean-up efforts and bringing the best available science to help solve these difficult problems.

Augmented Site Characterization of PFAS Manufacturing and Processing Facilities
Communication of Complex Contaminant Transport Processes in Groundwater
Detailed Characterization of the Savage Superfund Site, New Hampshire
The Aqueous Flow Concentration Estimator (AFCE): Software for Estimation of Ambient Groundwater Flow in Bedrock Open Boreholes
Geochemical Fingerprinting of Anthropogenic and Geologically Sourced Uranium at the Homestake Superfund Site, New Mexico
The Purge Analyzer Tool (PAT) to Assess Optimal Pumping Parameters in the Collection of Representative Groundwater Samples from Wells
Experimental testing for radon in laboratory and field using a coupled diffusive membrane and alpha track detector, 2024
Data associated with the evaluation of the PAT (Purge Analyzer Tool), Stringfellow Superfund site, Jurupa Valley, California, 2017
Data Associated with Uranium Background Concentrations at Homestake Mining Company Superfund Site near Milan, New Mexico, July 2016 through October 2016
A Monte-Carlo chemical budget approach to assess ambient groundwater flow in bedrock open boreholes
Evaluation and application of the Purge Analyzer Tool (PAT) to determine in-well flow and purge criteria for sampling monitoring wells at the Stringfellow Superfund site in Jurupa Valley, California, in 2017
Borehole‐scale testing of matrix diffusion for contaminated‐rock aquifers
Instructions for running the analytical code PAT (Purge Analyzer Tool) for computation of in-well time of travel of groundwater under pumping conditions
Differentiating anthropogenic and natural sources of uranium by geochemical fingerprinting of groundwater at the Homestake Uranium Mill, Milan, New Mexico, USA
Identifying natural and anthropogenic variability of uranium at the well scale, Homestake Superfund site, near Milan, New Mexico, USA
Determination of representative uranium and selenium concentrations from groundwater, 2016, Homestake Mining Company Superfund site, Milan, New Mexico
In-well time-of-travel approach to evaluate optimal purge duration during low-flow sampling of monitoring wells
Bedrock geology and outcrop fracture trends in the vicinity of the Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire
Geochemical, isotopic, and dissolved gas characteristics of groundwater in a fractured crystalline-rock aquifer, Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire, 2011
Evaluation of modeling for groundwater flow and tetrachloroethylene transport in the Milford-Souhegan glacial-drift aquifer at the Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire, 2011
Time series geophysical monitoring of permanganate injections and in situ chemical oxidation of PCE, OU1 area, Savage Superfund Site, Milford, NH, USA
Software for the program code AFCE (Aqueous-Flow-Concentration-Estimator) for estimation of ambient groundwater flow in bedrock open boreholes using concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds from coupled straddle packer and passive sampling
Software for the analytical code PAT (Purge Analyzer Tool) for computation of in-well time of travel of groundwater under pumping conditions
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is developing tools and methods to help assess the fate and transport of anthropogenic and geologically sourced contaminants in the water cycle at waste sites throughout the nation.
The cooperative efforts at most of these waste sites include conceptual, analytical, and numerical modeling that improve our understanding of groundwater contamination in natural conditions and after the construction or implementation of remedial solutions. The USGS facilitates the monitoring, evaluation, and optimization of remediation efforts to minimize public risk, mitigate contamination, and expedite clean-up.
The study of anthropogenic and geologically sourced contaminants includes a wide spectrum of chemicals, the behavior and occurrence of which varies among diverse, highly complex environmental settings. Geologically sourced contaminants include uranium, radon, arsenic and other toxic substances. Anthropogenic contaminants include chlorinated ethenes (such as trichloroethylene), carbon tetrachloride, perchlorate, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and others. The USGS uses local and national expertise to assist EPA in technical evaluation, thereby improving the cost-effectiveness of clean-up efforts and bringing the best available science to help solve these difficult problems.
