ABSTRACT
The goal of site remediation is to restore soil and groundwater quality to pre-contamination conditions. While the ideal goal is to restore the site to “natural” conditions in which all contamination is removed, remediation generally means reducing contamination to the site cleanup goals. Cleanup costs must be paid by someone or some group, and the costs and number of cleanup sites continues to increase. Assigning blame in litigation, and determining who pays, is complex, and time-consuming litigation may occur before a group accepts multimillion-dollar liabilities. Site remediation considers the limits of technical expertise, existing government regulations, environmental protection desired, and economics. Costs for site remediation can quickly escalate into considerable sums given the complexities of subsurface conditions. Site soil and groundwater cleanup will depend on the cleanup standard for that site, which is usually derived to protect water quality standards.
