From Tech Trends September 1996

National Integrated Bioremediation R&D Test Site

The National Center for Integrated Bioremediation Research and Development (NCIBRD) has developed a unique resource for research and development efforts at Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan. It provides a test site for rigorously controlled field studies and demonstrations where promising characterization and remediation technologies can be tested, evaluated and demonstrated. The focus of NCIBRD is to find integrated bioremediation solutions to the problems caused by contamination of surface and subsurface environments by petroleum, oils, lubricants and solvents. It was initiated by and is headquartered at the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic HSRC; and, it is supported by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program of the Department of Defense (DoD) and EPA. The Wurtsmith site is part of the Department of Defense National Environmental Technology Demonstration Program (DNETDP) network of test locations. All the existing test locations, including Wurtsmith and those to be established within the DNETDP network in the future represent a range of subsurface hydrogeologic and contaminant mixtures that are common to thousands of hazardous waste sites.

The site offers outstanding prospects for study of the remediation of contaminated surface soils, sediments, vadose (unsaturated) zones and ground water. Moreover, the aquifer is connected with three different types of open water systems: Lake Huron, shallow wetlands and the Au Sable River. These surface water bodies, bottom sediments and their respective interfaces with the aquifer present outstanding and varied field conditions for remediation research. A number of sites to be remediated are contaminated with a variety of adsorbed, dissolved and non-aqueous phase petroleum hydrocarbon mixtures, chlorinated solvents, heavy metals and PAHs.

A site-wide hydrogeochemical database is being developed for Wurtsmith. The database includes more than 600 borings and wells. It provides information on the hydrologic, geologic, meteorologic and chemical conditions prevailing at more than 43 sites contaminated by spills of fuels and solvents and by landfill leachates and at several ongoing pump-and-treat hydraulic containment situations.

Researchers outside the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic HSRC are encouraged to contact the NCIBRD offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to explore potential use of the site for their own research and demonstrations of remediation technologies. Please direct inquires to either Walter J. Weber, Jr., Executive Director or Michael J. Barcelona, Director of Field Operations and Research, by phone (313-763-2274), by FAX (313-763-2275) or by mail addressed to: The National Center for Integrated Bioremediation Research and Development, Suite 181, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Building, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125.