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U.S. EPA Contaminated Site Cleanup Information (CLU-IN)


U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. EPA Technology Innovation and Field Services Division

Recent Additions

FRTR Technology Screening Matrix

Posted: March 12, 2024

The Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable (FRTR) Matrix is a user-friendly tool for screening potentially applicable technologies for a remediation project. The matrix allows you to screen 49 in situ and ex situ technologies for either soil or groundwater remediation. Variables used in screening include contaminants, development status, overall cost, and cleanup time. Detailed information on each technology is also available, including direct links to the database of cost and performance reports written by FRTR members.

AMDTreat

Posted: March 12, 2024

AMDTreat 6.0 Beta is a computer application for estimating the long-term costs of the abatement of mine drainage discharge, commonly referred to as Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). AMDTreat 6.0 Beta can assist a user in estimating costs and sizing facilities to abate water pollution, using passive or chemical treatment technologies. Treatment systems, vertical flow ponds, anoxic limestone drains, anaerobic wetlands, bioreactors, caustic soda, hydrated lime, pebble quicklime, soda ash treatment and other systems can be evaluated.

PFAS Analytic Tools

Posted: March 12, 2024

To support EPA's Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl (PFAS) Strategic Roadmap, the Agency is compiling and integrating a collection of data that can be used to evaluate what is known about PFAS manufacture, release, and occurrence in communities. As part of this effort, EPA is integrating data available nationally with other information from states, Tribes, and localities that are testing for PFAS pursuant to their own regulatory or voluntary data collection initiatives. The data included in the PFAS Analytic Tools have a wide range of location-specific data and, in general, are based on national scope, and readily accessible, public information repositories.

EPA Spreadsheet for Modeling Subsurface Vapor Intrusion (Johnson and Ettinger Model Spreadsheet Tool, Version 6.0)

Posted: March 12, 2024

This website provides an updated spreadsheet tool developed by the EPA for estimating indoor air concentrations and associated health risks from subsurface vapor intrusion into buildings. The tool is based on the analytical solutions of Johnson and Ettinger for contaminant partitioning and subsurface vapor transport into buildings.

Matrix Diffusion Toolkit

Posted: March 12, 2024

The Matrix Diffusion Toolkit, developed for the Department of Defense's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), is a free software tool that can assist site personnel to effectively and efficiently estimate the effects matrix diffusion will have at their site, and share the results with stakeholders. The Toolkit is Microsoft Excel-based and provides the following tools to calculate and evaluate matrix diffusion effects:
  • Square Root Model – this module provides planning-level estimates of the mass discharge (in units of grams per day) caused by release from a low-k diffusion-dominated unit (typically silt or clay) into a high permeability advection-dominated unit (typically sand or gravel).
  • Dandy-Sale Model – this module allows users to perform contaminant transport via advection and transverse diffusion in the transmissive layer, and transport via transverse diffusion in the low-k zone. The module also provides planning-level estimates of the low-k zone and the transmissive zone.
  • Matrix Diffusion Related Tools – Additional tools related to matrix diffusion are provided, including the NAPL Dissolution Calculator, Plume Magnitude Information, Low-k Zone Remediation Alternatives, and a 14-Compartment Model.

PHAST – A Computer Program for Simulating Groundwater Flow, Solute Transport, and Multicomponent Geochemical Reactions

Posted: March 11, 2024

PHAST is a computer program that simulates multicomponent, reactive solute transport in three-dimensional saturated groundwater flow systems. PHAST is a versatile groundwater flow and solute-transport simulator capable of modeling a wide range of equilibrium and kinetic geochemical reactions. The flow and transport calculations are based on a modified version of HST3D that is restricted to constant fluid density and constant temperature. The geochemical reactions are simulated with the geochemical model PHREEQC, which is embedded in PHAST.

PHAST can be used in studies of migration of nutrients, inorganic and organic contaminants, and radionuclides; in projects such as aquifer storage and recovery or engineered remediation; and in investigations of the natural rock/water interactions in aquifers.

MODFLOW and Related Programs

Posted: March 11, 2024

MODFLOW is a modular hydrologic model and is considered an international standard for simulating and predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions. MODFLOW programs are capable of simulating coupled groundwater/surface-water systems, solute transport, variable-density flow (including saltwater), aquifer-system compaction and land subsidence, parameter estimation, and groundwater management.

Mann-Kendall Toolkit

Posted: March 11, 2024

The GSI Mann-Kendall Toolkit is a free, simple, easy-to-use software tool to help environmental professionals efficiently conduct concentration trend analyses for any groundwater constituent. The tool can be used to demonstrate the plume stability condition (expanding, stable, or decreasing) and track the progress of remediation efforts, in a quantitative and consistent manner.

GFLOW: Groundwater Flow Analytic Element Model

Posted: March 11, 2024

GFLOW is an analytic element model, which solves steady state groundwater flow in a single aquifer. GFLOW supports three-dimensional particle tracking, but employs the Dupuit-Forchheimer approximation, thereby ignoring resistance to vertical flow. GFLOW features a "MODFLOW extract" feature that allows a complete set of MODFLOW files to be written for a subdomain of the model. All aquifer properties and hydrological features are automatically duplicated in the MODFLOW files. Additional features: Areas of differing aquifer properties, horizontal barriers with resistance to flow (slurry walls), 3D flow near a partially penetrating well, local transient flow near a well (Theis solution), steady state interface flow in coastal aquifers, and PEST support for parameter optimalization. GFLOW supports both vector and raster graphics as background maps, including DXF, Shapefile, TIFF, and JPG files.

Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI)

Posted: March 11, 2024

The Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) is an environmental impact assessment tool that provides characterization factors for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), industrial ecology, and sustainability metrics and can be applied to processes, products, facilities, companies, and communities.

Spreadsheets for Environmental Footprint Analysis (SEFA)

Posted: March 11, 2024

EPA developed Spreadsheets for Environmental Footprint Analysis (SEFA), a set of analytical workbooks, to help decision-makers analyze the environmental footprint of a site cleanup project, determine which cleanup activities drive the footprint, and adjust project parameters to reduce the footprint. Information to be input by the user may be gathered from project planning documents, field records and other existing resources. Automated calculations within SEFA generate outputs that quantify 21 metrics corresponding to core elements of a greener cleanup.

Source History Tool

Posted: March 11, 2024

The Source History Tool was developed for ESTCP's program to help site personnel reconstruct long-term contaminate source histories that extend back to the beginning of the original source release using soil core data collected in low permeability zones.

Lead at Superfund Sites: Software and Users' Manuals

Posted: March 11, 2024

This website provides access to software and Users' Manuals for the Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children (IEUBK), and the Adult Lead Methodology (ALM).

EPA Fate, Exposure, and Risk Analysis (FERA)

Posted: March 11, 2024

EPA uses a variety of tools to evaluate the health risks and environmental effects associated with exposure to "criteria" air pollutants, including photochemical oxidants, such as ozone, and toxic air pollutants.

EPA Modeling Products to Assess Exposures

Posted: March 11, 2024

EPA's Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling (CEAM) provides proven predictive exposure assessment techniques for aquatic, terrestrial, and multimedia pathways for organic chemicals and metals.
  • Groundwater Models
    Simulation models and database software designed to quantify the movement and concentration of subsurface contaminants.
  • Surface Water Models
    Simulation models and database software designed to quantify movement and concentration of contaminants in lakes, streams, estuaries, and marine environments.
  • Food Chain Models
    Simulation models and database software designed to determine exposure levels and effects of environmental contaminants on organisms which make up the food chain.
  • Multimedia Models
    These simulation models were designed to quantify the movement and concentration of contaminants traveling through groundwater, surface water, and food chain media.
  • Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Models and Tools
    Simulation models and database software designed to quantify movement and concentration of contaminants in lakes, streams, estuaries, and marine environments.
  • Data Provisioning and Modeling Tools
    Software tools, data, and documents to facilitate exposure assessment.

SAS: Software Application for SMASH (Spectral Mixture Analysis for Surveillance of Harmful Algal Blooms)

Posted: March 11, 2024

The Software Application for Spectral Mixture Analysis for Surveillance of Harmful Algal Blooms (SMASH) is an application to facilitate mapping of potentially harmful algal blooms in reservoirs, rivers, and lakes from remotely sensed data. More specifically, SAS is designed to exploit the detailed observations of reflectance available within a hyperspectral image to infer which particular kinds of algae or cyanobacteria might be present within the water body.

EPA Ecosystem Services Tool Selection Portal

Posted: March 11, 2024

EPA's Ecosystem Services Tool Selection Portal is a resource to help communities incorporate the benefits of local ecosystems into their environmental planning and decision-making. Risk assessors, contaminated site practitioners, or others interested in environmental decision-making can review results from the Portal to learn about various tools that pertain to their specific criteria.

SPARROW Modeling Program

Posted: March 11, 2024

SPAtially Referenced Regression on Watershed attributes (SPARROW) is a watershed modeling tool that estimates the amount of a contaminant transported from inland waterbodies to larger water bodies by linking monitoring data with information on watershed characteristics and contaminant sources. Interactive, online SPARROW mapping tools allow for easy access to explore relationships between human activities, natural processes, and contaminant transport.

National Environmental Methods Index

Posted: March 11, 2024

The National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI) is a searchable database that allows scientists and environmental professionals to find and compare analytical and field methods for all phases of environmental monitoring. Users can perform a general search or filter a search by analyte, chemical, microbiological, population/community, toxicity, statistical, and regulatory.

Selected Analytical Methods for Environmental Remediation and Recovery (SAM) 2022

Posted: March 11, 2024

EPA's Selected Analytical Methods for Environmental Remediation and Recovery (SAM) identifies analytical methods to be used by laboratories performing analyses of environmental and building material samples following a contamination event.

Other EPA Air Models

Posted: March 11, 2024

Other EPA Air Models and resources include:

CMAQ: The Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System

Posted: March 11, 2024

The Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) is an active open-source development project that consists of a suite of programs for conducting air quality model simulations. CMAQ combines current knowledge in atmospheric science and air quality modeling, multi-processor computing techniques, and an open-source framework to deliver fast, technically sound estimates of ozone, particulates, toxics and acid deposition.