As a preliminary survey to improve efficiency of well-based permeable reactive barrier system for groundwater remediation, this site-scale study was carried to identify the flowpaths and controlling factors of plume at a remediation site in Suwon City, Korea. A total of 22 monitoring wells were installed as a grid system in the $4m{\times}4m$ square area by 1-m interval. For the groundwater characterization, various tests were performed including water-level monitoring, water sampling & analysis, pumping and slug tests, and tracer tests. The aquifer appeared to be unconfined with hydraulic conductivities (K) ranging from $2.6{\times}10^{-4}cm/s$ to $9.5{\times}10^{-3}cm/s$. The average linear velocity of groundwater was estimated to be $2.94{\times}10^{-6}m/s$, and the longitudinal dispersivity of a conservative tracer to be $5.94{\times}10^{-7}m^2/s$. Groundwater plume moves preferentially through the high-K zones, and the relatively high ion concentrations along the low-K zones implying deterred groundwater flow. Consequently, the spatial variation of hydraulic conductivity caused by aquifer heterogeneity and anisotropy appears to be the most important factor to maximize the effect of plume treatment system for application of in-situ groundwater remediation techniques.

Keywords: Site-scale study;Hydraulic conductivity (K);Tracer test;Heterogeneity;Anisotropy;