Geoenvironmental investigation of a contaminated site

Reclamation of contaminated sites for various kinds of public use such as industrial, residential and retail has been an important aspect in geoenvironmental engineering. For successful reclamation of a site, an understanding of the site geology, groundwater conditions, hydraulic properties of the geological strata and contaminant migration pathways is required. This paper presents results of a geoenvironmental investigation of a contaminated site including studies of various characteristics of the major lithologies of the site. Groundwater flow direction, which has a major impact on contaminant migration, has been interpreted by considering various cross-sections through different boreholes across the site. From the data of the monitored boreholes, it appears that the existing network of the boreholes is adequate to provide profiles of contaminant concentration. However, monitoring should be continued for a longer period so that trends of variation in concentration of different contaminants can be established.