Abstract

The Year-A-Round Cab Company (an industrial metal preparation, painting, and welding facility) in Mankato, MN has a history of numerous environmental violations. The site is located 300 yards north of Hiniker Pond, a popular swimming spot. The primary purposes of my research were to determine if BTEX (ethyl benzene, toluene, and xylenes) and heavy metals had reached Hiniker Pond, and model estimated contaminate plumes from the Year-A-Round Cab Company. Lead, cadmium, and chromium were found in sediments at levels of up to 30 times higher near the site as compared to the control lake, Hallett's Pond. Although BTEX were not found in surface water or sediment samples, it has been confirmed to be in manholes on the site at levels of up to 6,000 mg/L by the MPCA in September, 2010. GFLOW, MODFLOW and the transport engines MT3DMS (lead as surrogate) and RT3D (toluene as surrogate) were used to predict the spread of contamination off site. Based on the modeling, heavy metal contamination most likely has occurred through surface runoff and BTEX contamination is possible through groundwater flow. A comprehensive testing plan should be developed based on current models to understand the full extent of the BTEX, lead, cadmium, and chromium contamination. Column studies should be completed to refine the GFLOW and MODFLOW models.

Advisor

Beth Proctor

Committee Member

Cynthia Miller

Committee Member

Steven Mercurio

Date of Degree

2012

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biological Sciences

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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