Groundwater and Vadose Zone Vapor Extraction

The D&D Grocery site is located off Highway 197, west of Barnardsville, in Buncombe County, North Carolina, and currently operates as a restaurant, video rental, and convenience store.  The petroleum sold by the convenience store was once contained in three underground storage tanks.  This underground storage system, consisting of two 2,000-gallon tanks and one 1,000-gallon tank, was installed in the 1960s and utilized for nearly 30 years before it was abandoned in place and replaced with a series of aboveground storage tanks in January 1994.  Several remedial actions and abatement measures have been implemented at this site. 

In March 2001, a groundwater and vadose zone vapor (dual phase) extraction and treatment system began operating.  The remediation system includes twelve extraction wells and a skid-mounted treatment system.  Vapor is extracted from the wells using an oil-sealed liquid ring pump and discharged to the atmosphere following treatment with activated carbon.  The recovered groundwater is also extracted by the liquid ring pump and treated by an oil/water separator, an air stripper, and two activated carbon vessels.  The treated groundwater (effluent) is discharged to Ivy Creek under a general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. 

Altamont currently samples the seven on-site monitoring wells semiannually, collects quarterly influent and effluent samples from the remediation system, conducts routine maintenance of the remediation system, and prepares summary reports for submission to the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).