Project Description
Prairie winds and Air Force jets were not the only sounds heard at Altus AFB, Oklahoma. The motorized vibration of a 1,700-horsepower, continuous trenching machine was a familiar and welcome addition. It signaled the installation of a 5,400-foot-long, 35-foot-deep permeable reactive biowall that will save the US taxpayer an estimated $15 million over the course of its 30-year life cycle.
Parsons is recognized for integrating new technologies with efficient designs and reliable construction—biowalls are a good example. They are the latest innovation to remediate groundwater at significant cost savings. They can be installed for approximately one quarter of the costs of competing technologies such as permeable zero-valent iron walls and they operate more cost-effectively than groundwater pump and treat systems.
The biowall at Altus will be the nation’s longest and will treat groundwater contaminated with trichloroethene and dichloroethene by degrading these compounds in an anaerobic environment prior to offsite migration. To monitor the biowall, Parsons designed a network of over 40 groundwater wells, which will be sampled quarterly during the first year of operation.
We are monitoring biowall pilot tests at three military bases and are under contract to install two additional biowalls by the end of 2005.
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