Application of passive vapor diffusion samplers at England air force base, Louisiana

Abstract

Vapor sample collection using passive vapor diffusion samplers (PVDSs) represents a relatively new technology that employs passive sampling me thods for monitoring volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The sampler is buried in the bottom sediment of a surface-water body and is used to detect VOCs in groundwater discharging to surface water. Results of a field-scale PVDS application performed at a site at the former England Air Force Base (AFB), Alexandria, Louisiana between March and April of 2003 are presented. One objective for the PVDS application at England AFB was to determine if contaminated groundwater is discharging from Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) Number (No.) 41 into the adjacent Big Bayou and/or its tributary, the Unnamed Drainage Canal. A horizontal contaminant profile was developed by placing PVD samplers in the bottom sediment of Big Bayou and the Unnamed Drainage Canal, and analyzing the collected vapor samples for VOCs. The resulting data will aid in evaluating the fate and transport of contaminated groundwater emanating from SWMU No. 41. A second objective of this project was to evaluate the performance of the PVDSs and to provide guidance to the Air Force on the use of this technology to delineate contaminated groundwater discharge areas in surface water bodies. PVDS results showed detections of VOCs along the southern embankment of the Big Bayou; and all PVDSs containing at least 0.9 micrograms per liter (ug/L) of cis-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE) were clustered along about 60 feet of the southern shoreline immediately downstream from shallow well S41L027MW, which contained the highest detected cis-1,2-DCE concentrations during the June 2002 groundwater sampling event. © 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.