AUTOMATING GROUNDWATER SAMPLING AT HANFORD

Until this past October, Fluor Hanford managed Hanford's integrated groundwater program for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). With the new contract awards at the Site, however, the CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) has assumed responsibility for the groundwater-monitoring programs at the 586-square-mile reservation in southeastern Washington State. These programs are regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The purpose of monitoring is to track existing groundwater contamination from past practices, as well as other potential contamination that might originate from RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities. An integral part of the groundwater-monitoring program involves taking samples of the groundwater and measuring the water levels in wells scattered across the site. More than 1,200 wells are sampled each year. Historically, field personnel or 'samplers' have been issued pre-printed forms that have information about the well(s) for a particular sampling evolution. This information is taken from the Hanford Well Information System (HWIS) and the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS)--official electronic databases. The samplers used these hardcopy forms to document the groundwater samples and well water-levels. After recording the entries in the field, the samplers turned the forms in at the end of the day and the collected information was posted onto a spreadsheet that was then printed and included in a log book. The log book was then used to make manual entries of the new information into the software application(s) for the HEIS and HWIS databases. This is a pilot project for automating this tedious process by providing an electronic tool for automating water-level measurements and groundwater field-sampling activities. The automation will eliminate the manual forms and associated data entry, improve the accuracy of the information recorded, and enhance the efficiency and sampling capacity of field personnel. The goal of the effort is to eliminate 100 percent of the manual input to the database(s) and replace the management of paperwork by the field and clerical personnel with an almost entirely electronic process. These activities will include the following: scheduling the activities of the field teams, electronically recording water-level measurements, electronically logging and filing Groundwater Sampling Reports (GSR), and transferring field forms into the site-wide Integrated Document Management System (IDMS)