Integrated environmental monitoring -- prototype demonstration

Groundwater monitoring is an important activity at US Department of Energy (DOE) sites. Monitoring programs at DOE facilities have evolved in response to operational needs at the facilities, public outcries for information, regulatory requirements, DOE orders, and improvements in monitoring technology. Decisions regarding sampling location, sampling frequency, analyses performed, and other aspects of monitoring network design can have major implications for detecting releases and for making subsequent higher level decisions about facility operation and remediation. The Integrated Environmental Monitoring (IEM) concept is a set of analytical procedures and software tools that can be used to improve monitoring network design decisions. Such decisions include the choice of monitoring locations, sampling frequencies, sensor technologies, and monitored constituents. IEM provides a set of monitoring alternatives that balance the tradeoffs between competing monitoring objectives such as the minimization of cost and the minimization of uncertainty. The alternatives provided are the best available with respect to the monitoring objectives, consistent with the physical and chemical characteristics of the site, and consist with applicable regulatory requirements. The selection of the best monitoring alternative to implement is made by the stakeholders after reviewing the alternatives and tradeoffs produced by the IEM process