Strategies and Decision-Support Tools for Optimizing Long-Term Groundwater Monitoring Plans—MAROS 2.0

ABSTRACT

Existing long-term groundwater monitoring programs can be optimized to increase their effectiveness/efficiency with the potential to generate considerable cost savings. The optimization can be achieved through an overall evaluation of conditions of the contaminant plume and the monitoring network, focused spatial and temporal sampling analyses, and automated and efficient management of data, analyses, and reporting. Version 2.0 of the Monitoring and Remediation Optimization System (MAROS) software, by integrating long-term monitoring analysis strategies and innovative optimization methods with a data management, processing, and reporting system, allows site managers to quickly and readily develop cost-effective long-term groundwater monitoring plans. The MAROS optimization strategy consists of a hierarchical combination of analysis methods essential to the decision-making process. Analyses are performed in three phases: 1) evaluating site information and historical monitoring data to obtain local concentration trends and an overview of the plume status; 2) developing optimal sampling plans for future monitoring at the site with innovative optimization methods; and 3) assessing the statistical sufficiency of the sampling plans to provide insights into the future performance of the monitoring program. Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the developed techniques and the rigor of the software.

Keywords:

• long-term monitoring
• optimization
• geostatistics
• Delaunay triangulation
• sampling location
• sampling frequency

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was funded by AFCEE and the Texas Advanced Technology Program. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on revising this manuscript.