Detection and remediation of soil and aquifer systems contaminated with petroleum products: an overview

Fate of organic chemicals in the subsurface strata is not very well understood. It has only been a decade or two that environmental scientists are focusing their attentions on remediating sites that are contaminated with organic chemicals. Different routes of soil and groundwater contamination by petroleum hydrocarbon compounds and their partitioning into gaseous, aqueous and pure phases in the subsurface strata are discussed. A summary of the techniques used for treating hydrocarbon-contaminated soil and groundwater and their application limitations are presented. United States Environmental Protection Agencyʹs (US-EPA) methods 8260, 8270 and 418.1 for detection and quantitation of petroleum range hydrocarbon in soil and aqueous samples and some recently developed mathematical models used to predict the fate and transport of petroleum range compounds in aquifer systems are briefly discussed. Results of some toxicological studies on light and heavy petroleum hydrocarbon are presented. It is concluded that reaching an environment free of hydrocarbon contamination needs broad public understanding of the risks associated with these compounds. Proper management and careful handling of petroleum products reduces the possibility of spills. Replacing old and leaking underground storage tanks with new double wall tanks equipped with leak detectors and cathodic protection could significantly improve the quality of our precious and fragile groundwater resources.