Programme

25 March 2010

Morning

09:00   Registration and coffee

10:00   Chairs opening remarks

  • The History of Groundwater
  • What brought us here?
  • Where does the future look like?

Jeremy Birnstingl, Managing Director, Regenesis

10:15   What Legislation Drives UK Groundwater
Remediation, Present and Future?

  • Current hot topics
  • Issues and Opportunities

Alistair Kean, Director, IKM Consulting Ltd

10:40   Groundwater and Conceptual Site Models

  • The Importance of Conceptual site models
  • CSMs and Ground water risk assessment
  • CSMs and Groundwater remediation

Judith Nathanail, Company Secretary, Land Quality Management

11:05   Keynote Speaker

  • Discussing issues centred around the Open Source Planning Green Paper which he co-authored

John Howell, Member of the Shadow Communities and Local Government Team 

11:30   Q&A               

11:40   Coffee and Tea

12:05   The Arvia Process: Changing the Way Groundwater is Treated

  • Introducing Arvia's ground breaking new technology which removes and destroys organic contaminants from groundwater.Changes to permitting and notice regimes over the next 2 years

  • This is all achieved in a single unit through capturing and concentrating the organic pollutants using Nyex, Arvia's patented reusable absorption material.

Martin Keighley, CEO, Arvia Technology                                                                            

12:30   Risk Assessment: Challenges and Emerging Issues

  • Source – plume complexities: NAPLs, heterogeneity, hotspots, niche activity
  • Natural attenuation at the edge: the groundwater – surface-water interface
  • Handling ecological risks too

Mike Rivett, Lecturer in Earth Sciences, University of
Birmingham

12:55   What is Practical/Impractical? (risk vs. reasonableness)

  • What is the reality behind the numbers?
  • How do you interpret the risk?
  • What is a reasonable outcome

Mike Quint, Independent Consultant

13:20   Q&A                

13:30   Lunch

14:20   Remediation in Systems of Varying Permeability

  • Challenges posed by contaminant distribution in systems of varying permeability (dual porosity or multi-sequence horizons, e.g. made ground and alluvium)
  • Selection of appropriate remedial approaches and importance of treatment train concept
  • Practicable limits of technologies within such systems
  • Practical illustration of these concepts by reference to field examples

Mark Stevenson, Service Line Leader,
Process Remediation ,URS

14:40   The Matrix - Or How Subsurface Conditions Affect the Performance of Groundwater Remediation

  • A review of some of the main environmental constraints on the rate and efficiency of common groundwater remediation technologies and the remedial targets that can be achieved
  •  The discussion will consider some techniques that try to work around these constraints and some practical lessons that can be learned from remediation experience.

Prof. Phil Morgan, Associate Director, Sirius Group 

15:00   Helpston Groundwater Remediation Project

  • In the 80s two landfills were used for the disposal of an agricultural pesticide called mecoprop. This has since leaked into the local groundwater aquifer, polluting public and private water supplies. This is an overview of the work by Hydrock in partnership with the Environment Agency in preventing the eastward migration of mecoprop contamination.

Eric Cooper, Technical Director, Hydrock

15:20   Case Study: HydroRemed for Groundwater

  • Application of HydroRemed for Groundwater remediation in PA
  • Case Study of HydroRemed in New York
  • Floating Oil in a Canadian Mine Groundwater

Steve Lucas, GKL Solutions Limited

15:40   Q&A               

15:50   Coffee and Tea
        
16:10   In Situ Treatment of Organic Groundwater Contaminants: A review of factors inhibiting success and a view toward technical practicality

  • Contaminant solubility and diffusivity within the aquifer matrix largely control the potential for in situ treatment.
  • History shows under-estimation of these critical factors when choosing a remediation approach has lead to under-performance of remediation systems.
  • Recent research elucidating the phenomenon conined "black diffusion" offers a clear explanation for "contaminant rebound" and persistent low-level contaminant concentrations.
  • Performance data shows the use of passive controlled-release bioremediation substrates offers a cost-effective and technically practical solution to sites facing back-diffusion of contaminants.

Scott B. Wilson, Regenesis

16:35   International Perspectives

  • What lessons can be learned from other countries? 
  • What’s on the wind, and what should UK PLC-Environment be pushing for? 

Cecilia McLeod, Technical Director, Arcadis 
 
17:00   Panel Discussion – Perennial Problems/Wish list

Content and speakers to be confirmed

17:30    Drinks