Abstract
A vertical engineered barrier (VEB) coupled with a water treatment plant was surveyed in the framework of a vast remedial action at the brownfield site of the former ILVA of Bagnoli steel making facility located in western Naples, Italy. The VEB was put in place to minimize contaminant migration from the brownfield site toward the sea at the shorelines sites of Bagnoli and Coroglio. The efficiency of the VEB was monitored through 12 piezometers, 8 at the Bagnoli shoreline and 4 at the Coroglio shoreline. Concentrations of inorganic and organic pollutants were examined in upstream and downstream groundwater relative to the VEB. The mean levels of Al, As, Fe, and Mn largely exceeded the legal limits, 10–15-fold, whereas that of Hg was up to 3-fold the rules. The VEB decreased the outlet concentrations only at certain specific location of the barrier, four times for Al, 6-fold for Hg, and by 20 % for Mn with means largely exceeding the rules. At the other sites, the downstream water showed marked increases of the pollutants up to 3-fold. Outstanding levels of the hydrocarbons > 12 were detected in the inlet water with means of some hundred times the limits at both sites. Likewise most of screened inorganic pollutants, the downstream water showed marked increases of the hydrocarbons up to ~113 %. The treatment plant was very effective, with removal efficiencies >80 % for As, Al, Fe, and Mn. The study evidenced the need to put alternative groundwater remedial actions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Mr. Luigi Libraro, technical consultant of SIBA SpA of Milano, for his kind collaboration for the development of the research at the Bagnoli site.
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The authors declare that there is no potential conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
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Arienzo, M., Allocca, V., Manna, F. et al. Effectiveness of a physical barrier for contaminant control in an unconfined coastal plain aquifer: the case study of the former industrial site of Bagnoli (Naples, southern Italy). Environ Monit Assess 187, 761 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4988-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4988-2