Industrial chemicals and municipal wastes have contaminated groundwater at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod. More than thirteen plumes of contaminated groundwater are moving off the reservation beneath adjacent communities toward the coast. The plumes are composed of industrial solvents, fuels and fuel degradation products, landfill leachate, and treated wastewater.

The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE), which manages the Installation Restoration Program on the reservation, is locating the plumes and installing remediation systems to clean up the groundwater. Field data, technical analysis, multidisciplinary review, and understanding of the hydrologic system at local and regional levels are needed by AFCEE to insure that ongoing remediation is effective.

The objective of this study is to provide technical assistance to the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment to support remediation of groundwater contamination on the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The technical assistance helps insure that the cleanup is based on sound scientific principles and accurate site-specific geologic, hydrologic, and chemical information.

The assistance provided by the USGS to AFCEE includes technical reviews; analysis of specific technical problems using USGS models and hydrologic data; and participation in technical workshops and advisory teams. The USGS also conducts field studies of specific problems, such as discharge of plumes to pond and bogs, diffusion sampling in wells for volatile organic compounds, and the geochemical effects of permeable reactive barriers, by using innovative sampling methods and start-of-the-art field and computer-modeling approaches.

The products include presentations to advisory groups and technical meetings, formal letters of comment, data releases, and technical reports.