Monitoring Well Safety at Hazardous Sites

This chapter focuses on the drilling and installation of monitoring wells. Groundwater monitoring that is required by law at thousands of facilities throughout the United States is ubiquitous in industrial solid and hazardous materials operations. The nature of the sites being monitored determines the level of protection necessary for worker safety. While this can never be reduced to “zero exposure,” it can and must be managed by taking into consideration the site-specific conditions, the contaminants of concern, and the goals of the investigation, while remembering the limitations of the trained worker. The primary goal of monitoring well construction is to obtain samples representative of the site-specific subsurface conditions. Cross-contamination is a major concern in collecting groundwater samples. In a regulatory environment that sets toxicological-based standards in parts per trillion concentrations, cleanliness akin to surgical procedures is sometimes required. Some sites with highly toxic contaminants in their soils, soil gas, and/or groundwater may require specialized personal protective equipment (PPE) and procedures.