Monitored natural attenuation

Abstract

Monitored natural attenuation (MNA) is an in situ remediation technology that relies on naturally occurring and demonstrable processes in soil and groundwater which reduce the mass and concentration of the contaminants. Natural attenuation (NA) involves both aerobic and anaerobic degradation of the contaminants due to the fact that oxygen is used up near the core of the contaminant plume. The aerobic and anaerobic microbial processes can be assessed by microbial activity measurements and molecular biology methods in combination with chemical analyses. The sampling and knowledge on the site conditions are of major importance for the linkage of the results obtained to the conditions in situ. Rates obtained from activity measurements can, with certain limitations, be used in modeling of the fate of contaminants whereas most molecular methods mainly give qualitative information on the microbial community and gene abundances. However, molecular biology methods are fast and describe the in situ communities and avoid the biases inherent to activity assays requiring laboratory incubations.