1.5.2.b Grand Challenge Problem:
Groundwater Remediation

Water is one of human's most critical needs. No other substance is as important to our health or economy. Yet we can't produce new water. The water we use now is the same water as when the earth was formed.

The earth's water is stored in oceans, lakes, reservoirs, rivers and under the ground. The United States currently faces a very large groundwater contamination problem. Most of the contaminants originate from leaky storage tanks. Although the total number of contaminated sites is unknown, estimates of the total number of waste sites where groundwater and soil may be contaminated range from approximately 300,000 to 400,000. Recent estimates of the total costs of cleaning up these sites over the next 30 years range as high as one trillion dollars. Currently, 95% of the drinking water in rural areas and 75% of all water used comes from groundwater sources, making groundwater remediation a necessary and important problem.

In order to study ground water contamination, complex chemical and physical interactions must be modeled. Approximations must be made because the exact properties of a contaminated site are unknown. The model will be divided into more than 100,000 grid blocks, each describing a small geographic area. Within each grid block, equations will describe the behavior of gases and liquids as they interact and move from location to location. Some blocks may represent locations in a body of water, while others will model liquid moving through dirt or seeping through cracks in rock. Equations involving cost are also required -- the scientists and engineers must not only design remediation methods that work, they must recommend methods that can be carried out at the least cost. Image from Institute for Scientific Computing, Texas A & M University.

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