Gulf war contamination assessment for optimal monitoring and remediation cost-benefit analysis, Kuwait

Site characterization was performed on an area of 580 km² around the strategically vital freshwater aquifers of the Al-Rawdhatain and Umm Al-Aish to assess the status of groundwater pollution as the result of Iraq invasion to Kuwait in 1991. Advanced data analysis and visualization software (EVS-Pro) was used for groundwater contamination assessment analytes: total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and total dissolved solids (TDS). This will reduce the number of samples needed (saves time and money) and provide a superior assessment of the analytes distribution. Based on the “minimum–maximum plume technology” analysis, the nominal plume area with a threshold of 0.031 mg/kg TPH is estimated at about 0.47 km². This is the difference between the maximum and minimum predicted plume sizes. EVS-Pro also computed 3.3775 × 10⁹ and 4.0788 × 10⁶ for the plume volumes and masses (dollars per volume and mass), respectively. Also, new sampling locations were determined for further detailed site assessments based on the confidence and uncertainty analysis, which is more defensible and cost-optimized approach. This will reduce the number of samples needed (saves time and money) and provide a superior assessment of the analytes distribution. These tools prove to be effective in assessing remediation costs of clean-up versus benefits obtained and in developing a cost-effective monitoring programme for insights into processes controlling subsurface contaminant transport that impact water quality.