• What Is the In Situ Flushing Action Team?
• What Are In Situ Flushing Technologies?
• What Is the Action Team's Mission?
• What Action Items Has the Team Identified?
• Would You Like More Information?
• In Situ Flushing Action Team Fact Sheet (46K PDF)

What Is the In Situ Flushing Action Team?

The In Situ Flushing Action Team, established in 1997, is one of seven Action Teams under the Remediation Technologies Development Forum (RTDF). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the RTDF in 1992 to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing innovative solutions to mutual hazardous waste problems. The In Situ Flushing Action Team includes representatives from industry, government, and academia who share an interest in facilitating the development, evaluation, and potential implementation of chemically enhanced contaminant extraction methodologies for subsurface remediation.

What Are In Situ Flushing Technologies?

In situ flushing technologies reduce ground-water contaminant concentrations by injecting an aqueous solution containing chemical adjuvants (e.g., surfactants and cosolvents) into highly contaminated source zones. Subsurface contaminants are solubilized and/or mobilized by the injected flushing solution and then extracted via downgradient extraction wells for above-ground treatment. Advantages of in situ flushing include:

• Does not require excavation, handling, or transport of large quantities of contaminated soils
• Is potentially applicable to a wide range of contaminants in both vadose and saturated zones
• Accelerates site remediation and achievement of cleanup goals
• Is specifically designed for source zone remediation

What Is the Action Team's Mission?

The Action Team’s mission is to facilitate the development, evaluation, and implementation of in situ flushing technologies for source remediation.

What Action Items Has the Team Identified?

The action items identified by this RTDF group are tied together under one “umbrella” project involving the conceptual design of a large-scale in situ flushing study. Action items are to:

• Further develop technical practices and produce a general protocol
• Perform economic evaluations and compare the costs of in situ technologies with those of conventional treatments
• Develop adjuvant recovery and reuse systems
• Analyze endpoint issues and define success criteria by answering “How clean is clean?”

The Action Team is in the process of forming work groups to investigate the above-listed action areas. Other action items identified by the In Situ Action Team include:

• Dissemination of information to regulators and site managers to increase their confidence in using this technology and to eliminate misconceptions
• Identification of applicable test sites for future studies and improvement of nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) source identification techniques
• Analysis of this technology’s potential niche in the market (evaluate who is going to need this product, determine how many sites will have conditions that are conducive to this technology, and establish the status of competing technologies)
• Identification of funding sources for further development of technology
• Assessment of the benefits of partial mass removal and the use of other processes, such as natural attenuation or bioremediation, to achieve cleanup levels after the in situ flushing has been performed

Would You Like More Information?

For more information about the In Situ Flushing Action Team, please contact:

Lynn Wood, Ph. D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
P.O. Box 1198
Ada, OK 74820
Tel: 405-436-8552
Fax: 405-436-8703
E-mail: wood.lynn@epa.gov

Stephen Shoemaker
DuPont Corporate Remediation
140 Cypress Station Drive, Suite 135
Houston, TX 77090
Tel: 281-586-2513
Fax: 281-586-5650
E-mail: stephen.h.shoemaker@usa.dupont.com

Sponsored by the Technology Innovation Program

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