Abstract
Petroleum contamination has impacted a shallow unconfined Pleistocene terrace aquifer, in Travis County, East Austin, Texas (Figure 1). The aquifer was contaminated from accidental spills released from a bulk petroleum storage facility that operated from the early 1950's to 1987. The extent of the ground water contamination has impacted City of Austin properties, private residential areas, and is migrating towards the Colorado River to the South. A capture zone is proposed to stop the contaminants from migrating to uncontaminated areas and prohibit the contaminants from reaching the Colorado River. Capture predictions are made using numerical and analytical models. Analytical predictions are made using the Javandel and Tsang, 1986, type curve method. Results, of the Javandel and Tsang method, suggest that the contaminant plume is completely captured with a number of wells greater than 4, pumping at rates of 5 gal/min, and spaced 175 feet apart. Numerical predictions are made using MODFLOW, in conjunction with MODPATH (McDonald and Harbaugh, 1988). Numerical predictions suggest that the contaminant plume is completely captured with 14 wells, pumping at rates of 3 gal/min and 3.5 gal/min, and spaced 200 feet apart. The aquifer is capable of supplying the pumping demand, generating 24 million gallons of contaminated water each year.
Cann, Eric Roy (1997). Capture zone design for a contaminated shallow unconfined aquifer. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1997 -THESIS -C36.