Laserfiche WebLink
1999 peak in MW-6 is that it represents the passage of the May 1998 peak in MW-1 discussed <br /> previously, and that approximately 18 months elapsed before this peak reached MW-6. In this <br /> regard, the very large peak observed in MW-6 in May 1994 may thus be more significant than it <br /> might otherwise appear; like the 1999 peak, it occurred more than 12 months after a concentration <br /> peak was observed in MW-1 (in April 1993). Hence, the water data from these two wells support <br /> the argument that a wave of gasoline-impacted groundwater, migrating eastward (downgradient) <br /> from the Chevron UST cavity, first impacted MW-1 and then subsequently reached MW-6 a year <br /> later. This occurred not once, but twice between 1993 and 1999. <br /> As a further test of this hypothesis, Figure 10 compares the concentration trends in MW-1 with <br /> those in MW-3. The graphs strongly support the notion that the 1999 concentration peak in MW-6 <br /> records eastward migration of a pulse of contaminated groundwater from the Chevron UST facility. <br /> Unlike MW-6, MW-3 is located west (upgradient according to Figure 6) of the Chevron UST <br /> facility. Hence, if the 1994 and 1999 peaks in MW-6 are indeed due to eastward migration of the <br /> groundwater plume, no such peak should have occurred in MW-3. From September 1987 until <br /> August 1995, the curve for MW-3 is strikingly similar to that for MW-1. Concentrations peaked in <br /> both wells in April 1993, not May 1994. However, concentrations in MW-3 did not rise again after <br /> August 1995, as they did in MW-1, but began a long and continuous decline, with no peaks in 1998 <br /> or 1999. <br /> 2.4.4 Summary <br /> In summary, there is abundant evidence that gasoline was released from the Chevron UST's (and <br /> perhaps other appurtenances, such as piping or dispensers), and that this gasoline leached both <br /> laterally and downward. It entered the thin sand bed that is present at that site in the upper lithologic <br /> unit at a depth of 10 feet (Figure 3, cross sections A-A' and B-B') and downward into the middle <br /> lithologic unit, where it impacted groundwater sometime prior to 1986. On the contrary, there is <br /> very little evidence that gasoline released from the Kwikee UST's escaped the tank pit. This may <br /> explain why the hydrocarbon concentrations that were detected in the Kwikee UST samples were as <br /> much as 2.5 times greater than those in the Chevron UST samples. Whereas a significant proportion <br /> of the gasoline in the Chevron tank pit leached into the underlying soil and groundwater, thereby <br /> lowering the residual concentrations within the tank pit, all or nearly all of the gasoline that leaked <br /> from the Kwikee UST's remained encased in the tank pit, unable to penetrate-the low-permeability <br /> clay of the upper lithologic unit. <br /> 2.5 Schematic Model <br /> The foregoing discussions are summarized into a schematic block diagram of the two sites in <br /> Figure 11. The model predicts that under the prevailing eastward or northeastward groundwater <br /> flow, petroleum hydrocarbons dissolved in shallow groundwater in the middle lithologic unit will <br /> migrate to the east, and that over time gasoline compounds will be detected in wells that are located <br /> east (downgradient) of the leak points. In this scenario, any gasoline leaked from the Chevron <br /> UST's will first impact monitoring well MW-1, which is located immediately east of the tank <br /> cavity, and will subsequently migrate to MW-6 and KF-3. The data discussed in section 2,4.3 <br /> 11 _ <br />