ABSTRACT
Natural attenuation is increasingly being used as a remediation strategy for sites contaminated with fuel hydrocarbons. Natural attenuation allows natural chemical processes to degrade contaminants, as opposed to the active removal of contaminants through engineered solutions. The presence of MTBE at a gasoline-contaminated site, however, complicates this approach because MTBE resists natural biological degradation and can inhibit degradation of other fuel components. Additionally, MTBE moves more quickly through groundwater than other gasoline fuel constituents, such as benzene. The rapid movement of MTBE in groundwater further complicates natural attenuation strategies for management of MTBE-contaminated sites.
