Sam Williams

The operation of expensive remediation systems, sometimes for decades, is often the result of heterogenous or fine-grained geology, fractured bedrock, restrictive criteria that are regulated down to the part per trillion level, and contaminant mass that is caught up in fine-grain soil making painfully-slow diffusion the primary mass transfer mechanism. Our practitioners are adept at expediting investigations and accelerating site closure through a wide range of innovative technology applications. At many sites with languishing remedial systems, optimization is an option that may improve mass recovery, but it may not be the ideal solution, if contaminant source zones have been inadequately characterized. Geosyntec has repeatedly demonstrated that high-resolution characterization of these zones, followed by targeted source zone removal, can optimize remedy performance and lead to the safe closure of the system. Geosyntec is frequently called upon to critically evaluate and optimize existing systems, providing solutions that range from modification to the unit operations of an ex situ treatment train to reduce chemical and energy costs as influent concentrations decrease; or incorporating flexibility into injection systems by alternating passive and active flow fields or adding additional wells in targeted source zones. When performing remedial design of a new system, Geosyntec applies these same principles of future optimization at the forefront of the design process, positioning the client for long-term savings opportunities. System optimization includes a critical evaluation of the performance monitoring plan. At large sites with sprawling networks of monitoring wells, often sampled quarterly or more, Geosyntec has successfully utilized statistical models to develop streamlined monitoring networks that effectively monitor the system, are defensible to the regulatory community, and can save clients significant monitoring costs. Decades of experience in the implementation of new, emerging, and conventional technology allows our practitioners to frequently bridge the gap between the development and "first-to-field" stages of environmental solutions. In addition, Geosyntec's in-house laboratories provide physical and chemical testing that effectively monitors the performance of treatment processes, technologies, and systems. Our technical evaluation facilities regularly conduct chemical oxidation and bioreactor tests; examine the presence of organics and inorganics in wastewater; evaluate the effectiveness of remediation products; simulate the performance of conceptual designs; and analyze the likely behavior and end point of various treatment processes. Our lab teams communicate regularly to share knowledge and direct internal and external client projects to the most appropriate technology solutions. Working together, Geosyntec's engineers, scientists, and innovators leverage the power of chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions to detoxify, immobilize, and eliminate exposure risks to a wide range of chemicals in the environment, especially those difficult to treat by more conventional means. Geosyntec uses a combination of standard and developing technologies to create solutions at burdensome sites. These solutions often displace systems that have been running for many years and for which closure may have seemed impossible.