Archive for November 22, 2019

New barrier keeps water clean

As the world’s cities grow to depend increasingly on underground water for drinking and domestic use, better methods are needed to keep it safe from contamination, the CleanUp 2011 conference heard today.

The contaminants of groundwater can be mixed with the local water supply without proper sanitation.

Underground barriers – known as permeable reactive barriers or PRBs – offer a reliable and affordable way to prevent industrial and other forms of toxic pollution from entering the water supply, says Scott Warner, Vice President and Principal Hydrogeologist with the international engineering and project management company AMEC which has offices worldwide and in Australia.

“PRB technology was first applied commercially in California in 1994, and today there are more than 200 barriers installed across North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia,” Mr Warner says. “It is now an accepted and proven technology for passively treating a wide variety of chemicals, including organic solvents, metals, and radionuclides.” Read more