Forecasting leachate generation from pilot woodchip stockpiles using a three-dimensional transient flow model.

Leachate generation from open stockpiles of recycled woodchip materials is potentially harmful to aquatic ecosystems. There is growing interest in using numerical models to simulate leachate generation from outdoor piles, but this requires information about the hydraulic properties of the materials. The objectives of this study were to simulate leachate from woodchip piles with the numerical model HYDRUS-3D and to optimize subsets of parameters for single (SPM) and dual (DPM) pore flow models with the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm DREAMZS. Three experimental piles, each approximately 30 m3, were setup with mixtures of either once (coarse) or twice (fine) ground woodchips. Leachate continuously collected over a period of six months was similar across piles. As a result, subsets of optimized flow parameters for the coarse and fine woodchips were not different. Leachate predictions by the two pore flow models were similar and agreed reasonably with the field measurements, as indicated by Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency values greater than 0.6. This result suggests the simpler SPM is adequate for field predictions of leachate. However, leachate was consistently under-predicted by both pore models by 13-27% during rainfall events with more than 1 cm in 6 h. The optimized flow models can be used as a tool for studying pile management strategies.

Design of a GIS-based rating protocol to assess the potential for landfill closure using dredge material in post Hurricane Sandy New Jersey.

New Jersey is rapidly running out of capacity for storage of dredged material. A potential solution to this lack of storage space is to remove and reuse the dredged material for some beneficial use. Results from a Rutgers University project performed for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Office of Maritime Resources, designed to assess the potential for closure of New Jersey landfills using dredge material from existing Confined Disposal Facilities (CDFs) are presented and discussed. The project included an update of the existing NJDEP landfill database, the development of a rating system to identify landfills with the highest potential to utilize dredged material for their closure, and the identification and preliminary investigation of the top candidate landfills based on this rating system.

Source Apportionment of Atmospheric Polychlorinated Biphenyls in New Jersey 1997-2011.

Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Delaware River currently exceed the Water Quality Criteria of 16 pg/L for the sum of PCBs due in part to atmospheric deposition. The purpose of this work was to use a source apportionment tool called Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) to identify the sources of PCBs to the atmosphere in this area and determine whether their concentrations are declining over time. The data set was compiled by the Delaware Atmospheric Deposition Network (DADN) from samples taken in Camden, NJ from 1999 to 2011 and New Brunswick, NJ from 1997 to 2011. The PMF analysis revealed four resolved factors at each site. The factors that dominate the PCB burden in the atmosphere at both Camden and New Brunswick resemble Aroclor 1242. These factors declined in concentration during some portions of the monitoring period, but this decline slowed or stopped during 2003-2011. None of the factors displayed consistent declines in concentration throughout the monitoring periods, and some factors actually increased in concentration during some periods. This suggests natural attenuation alone will not control atmospheric PCB concentrations, and additional efforts are needed to control PCB atmospheric emissions as well as the numerous other sources of PCBs to the estuary.

Mass transfer coefficients for volatilization of polychlorinated biphenyls from the Hudson River, New York measured using micrometeorological approaches.

Air-water exchange is an important process controlling the fate of many organic chemicals in the environment. Modeling this process is hampered by the lack of direct observations. Thus, the purpose of this work was to derive direct measurements of the mass transfer coefficients for air-water exchange (v(aw)) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that may be used to check the validity of values derived from tracer gas experiments. v(aw) values for PCBs were determined using previously published turbulent fluxes divided by the corresponding dissolved phase concentrations. The median v(aw) values for each homolog decreased with increasing molecular weight and ranged from 0.29 for hexachlorobiphenyls to 2.2 m d(-1) for monochlorobiphenyls with a propagated uncertainty of about 70%, lower than in previous studies. Due to relatively low wind speeds and possible sorption of PCBs to colloids, these numbers may be biased low. These field measurements of v(aw) differ by as much as a factor of 23 from predictions based on the widely-used Whitman two-film model. Therefore a new formulation for the calculation of v(aw) based on field measurements is needed. This study demonstrates that micrometeorological approaches are a viable option for the measurement of v(aw) for hydrophobic organics such as PCBs and should be used to generate enough field data on the air-water exchange of hydrophobic organics to allow the development of new predictive models.

Fluxes of polychlorinated biphenyls volatilizing from the Hudson River, New York measured using micrometeorological approaches.

This study represents the first time that a micrometeorological technique, using turbulent transport measurements, has been used to determine the direction and magnitude of air-water exchange of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The study was conducted during July 2008 on the Hudson River estuary near the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is the site of some of the most serious PCB contamination in the world. Gas-phase ΣPCB concentrations measured at two heights above the water column averaged 1.1 ng m(-3), and concentrations were usually lower in the upper air sample, indicating net transport of PCBs from the water column to the air. Volatilization PCB fluxes were calculated using the modified Thornthwaite-Holzman equation. Values of friction velocity and atmospheric stability were calculated using the Aerodynamic Gradient and Eddy Correlation techniques. The PCB fluxes were corrected for changes in atmospheric stability using the atmospheric stability factor of water vapor (ϕ(w)) calculated from empirical formulations which ranged from 1.0 to 3.2 (neutral to stable atmospheric boundary layer conditions). Vertical ΣPCB fluxes ranged from +0.5 µg m(-2) d (-1) to +13 µg m(-2) d (-1). Mono- through tri-homologues accounted for about half of ΣPCB fluxes, with tetra- through hexa-homologue accounting for the other half. This work demonstrates the utility of a micrometeorological approach to measuring the air-water exchange of organic contaminants.

Comparison of kriging and cokriging for the geostatistical estimation of specific capacity in the Newark Basin (NJ) aquifer system.

Groundwater is a major water source in New Jersey; hence, accurate hydrogeologic data are extremely important. However, most measured data have inadequate spatial density and their locations are often clustered. Our study focuses on implementing geostatistical methods to generate the spatial distribution of specific capacity over the Newark Basin in New Jersey. Two geostatistical methods, ordinary kriging and cokriging, were employed and compared. Ordinary kriging was employed to estimate the spatial distribution of specific capacity by using measured values. Cokriging incorporated the spatial variability of fracture density into the estimation with the spatial variability of specific capacity, as groundwater flow in fractured rock aquifers depends on the fracture characteristics in the Newark Basin. Results indicate that cokriging manifested substantial improvements over ordinary kriging including a larger areal coverage, a more detailed variation of specific capacity, and reduction in the variance of its estimates.

Comparison of a novel profile method to standard chamber methods for measurement of sediment oxygen demand.

A methodology is presented to determine the impact of flow rate upon sediment oxygen demand (SOD) based upon dissolved oxygen transport through the logarithmic boundary layer in stream systems. Previous work has used profile methodology to estimate atmospheric fluxes of pollutants from sediment, and similar principles are applied in this study. Chamber and profile SOD measurements were collected on July 21, 2009 in the Millstone River in Hillsborough, NJ and on July 22 and 28, 2009 in the Lawrence Brook in Milltown, NJ. The two systems were installed 2 meters apart laterally across the stream to measure SOD simultaneously. A total of 7 chamber measurements and 50 profile measurements were collected over 3 days. Chamber SOD measurements in the Lawrence Brook varied from 3.6 to 13.0 g/m(2)/day and had a mean of 5.0 g/m(2)/day. Concurrent profile SOD measurements varied from 1.3 to 13.5 g/m(2)/day and had a mean of 7.16 g/m(2)/day. In the Millstone River, the single chamber measurement was 4.6 g/m(2)/day while the profile measurements varied from 0.5 to 2.2 g/m(2)/day with a mean of 1.32 g/m(2)/day. The measurements made via the profile and chamber methods were found to be in relative agreement. A linear relationship between friction velocity and stream SOD was observed.