Migration of Wood-Preserving Chemicals in Contaminated Groundwater in a Sand Aquifer at Pensacoia, Florida

Abstract

Operation of a wood-preserving facility for nearly 80 years at Pensacoia, FL, contaminated the near-surface groundwater with creosote and pentachlorophenol. The major source of aquifer contamination was unlined surface impoundments that were in direct hydraulic contact with the groundwater. Episodes of overtopping the impoundments and overland flow of treatment liquor and waste were also significant to the migration and contamination of the groundwater. Solutes contaminating the groundwater are mainly naphthalene and substituted phenols. Sorption did not influence retardation of solutes in transport in the groundwater. Phenol and the mono substituted methylphenols appear to be undergoing biotransformation. Pentachlorophenol (PCP) was not found in significant concentrations in the groundwater possibly because the solubility of PCP is approximately 5 mg/L at pH 6, near the average acidity for the groundwater. © 1985, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.