USGS

 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4283


Optimization of Ground-Water Withdrawal at the Old O-Field Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

By William S.L. Banks and Jonathan J.A. Dillow

 

This report is available as a pdf.

 

ABSTRACT

The U.S. Army disposed of chemical agents, laboratory materials, and unexploded ordnance at the Old O-Field landfill at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, beginning prior to World War II and continuing until at least the 1950's. Soil, ground water, surface water, and wetland sediments in the Old O-Field area were contaminated by the disposal of these materials. The site is in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and is characterized by a complex series of Pleistocene and Holocene sediments formed in various fluvial, estuarine, and marine-marginal hydrogeologic environments. A previously constructed transient finite-difference ground-water- flow model was used to simulate ground-water flow and the effects of a pump-and-treat remediation system designed to prevent contaminated ground water from flowing into Watson Creek (a tidal estuary and a tributary to the Gunpowder River). The remediation system consists of 14 extraction wells located between the Old O-Field landfill and Watson Creek.

Linear programming techniques were applied to the results of the flow-model simulations to identify optimal pumping strategies for the remediation system. The optimal management objective is to minimize total withdrawal from the water-table aquifer, while adhering to the following constraints: (1) ground-water flow from the landfill should be prevented from reaching Watson Creek, (2) no extraction pump should be operated at a rate that exceeds its capacity, and (3) no extraction pump should be operated at a rate below its minimum capacity, the minimum rate at which an Old O-Field pump can function. Water withdrawal is minimized by varying the rate and frequency of pumping at each of the 14 extraction wells over time. This minimizes the costs of both pumping and water treatment, thus providing the least-cost remediation alternative while simultaneously meeting all operating constraints.

The optimal strategy identified using this objective and constraint set involved operating 13 of the 14 extraction wells at rates ranging from 0.4 to 4.9 gallons per minute.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

Introduction

Purpose and scope

Location of study area

Hydrogeologic setting

Previous investigations

Acknowledgments

Ground-water-flow simulation model

Model geometry

Model boundaries and initial conditions

Temporal conditions

Model stresses

Model calibration

Optimization of the model

Approach

Model objective

Operational constraints

Mathematical formulation

Simulation results

Summary and conclusions

References cited


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For more information about USGS activities in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia contact:

 

Director
MD-DE-DC Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Water Resources Discipline
8987 Yellow Brick Road
Baltimore, MD 21237
Telephone: (410) 238-4200
Fax: (410) 238-4210

 

or access the USGS Water Resources of Maryland, Delaware, and District of Columbia home page at  http://md.water.usgs.gov/.


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