API BUL 18-2003

$39.00

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Managing Risk at LNAPL Sites

Published By	Publication Date	Number of Pages
API	2003	24

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Description

Petroleum liquids are a basic building block of our modern lives. Uses include fuels, lubricants, and the raw material for manufactured products. Current consumption in the United States is estimated at 840 million gallons per day. Total use over the last 100 years is on the order of one million times 10 million gallons (www.eia.doe.gov). All of this has brought great convenience to our lives. Unfortunately, a by-product has been the inadvertent release of petroleum liquids. Fortunately, releases represent a very small fraction of total use and improvements in infrastructure have dramatically reduced the potential for future releases. Nevertheless, a result of our utilization of petroleum liquids is a legacy of soil and groundwater impacted by petroleum liquids.

Over the last 30 years recognition of the need for better environmental stewardship has driven rapid evolution of science and technology associated with managing releases of petroleum liquids. This is reflected in a steady stream of journal articles, books, short courses, conferences, and web pages devoted to the topic. So much information now exists that it is challenging to remain up-to-date. The intent of this document is to provide a concise overview of current knowledge through the format of “Frequently Asked Questions.” Each question is first addressed with a short answer. This is followed by a more detailed answer in a shaded box area for those who wish to know more.

As you read the questions and answers presented here, it is important to remember that overall site management involves decision-making not only about the petroleum liquid itself, but also consideration of other affected media and exposure pathways (e.g., dissolved hydrocarbon plumes and vapor migration to enclosed spaces). This paper assumes that the reader has a working knowledge of how dissolved and vapor phase plumes are generated from petroleum liquid source areas and how natural attenuation and other processes (natural and enhanced) limit their mobility and extent.

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