1. The consultant locates the plume by installing monitoring wells and
THE PROTOTYPE PLUME BUSTERS© SOFTWARE: A NEW TOOL FOR INSTRUCTION IN EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
Environmental and earth science students often lack the benefit of experience derived from working on real-world problems to help them advance from novice learners to experts. With the Plume Busters© software, students take on the role of an environmental consultant hired by a pipeline owner to clean up a simulated aquifer that has become contaminated by fluids released to the environment by a pipeline break.
Because the released fluids contain hazardous chemicals, they must be removed from the aquifer before they reach the river and the intake for a downstream public water supply. The
sampling water to determine contaminant concentration. Once located, the consultant designs and operates a pump-and-treat remediation system to remove contamination from the aquifer.
The software simulates movement of a plume from a pipeline break through a shallow alluvial aquifer towards the river and the operation of the pump-and-treat remediation system.
Grade and undergraduate non-hydrogeology and hydrogeology major versions of the prototype Plume Busters© software and a teacher’s guide are free and available from the Kansas Geological Survey website at or from the Digital Library of Earth System Education at htttp://
This project is supported by grants from the Geo-Ed and the Course Curriculum Laboratory Improvement programs of the National Science Foundation. Enhanced versions of the prototype will be available by the summer of 2007.
Vertical section (side view) showing the movement of contamination toward the Buffalo River.
Map (plan view) showing the location of the pipeline spill in the Buffalo River valley with respect to the River City supply intake from the river.
In a pump-and-treat remediation system water is pumped from the aquifer, treated to remove the contamination, and returned to the river.
goal of the simulation is to find the contamination and clean up the aquifer as quickly as possible while spending the least amount of money to accomplish the task.
The consultant locates the plume by installing monitoring wells and