MANAGING A CAPPED ACID ROCK DRAINAGE (ARD) REPOSITORY USING SEMI-AUTONOMOUS MONITORING AND MODELING 1

Effective ARD repository management requires ongoing assessment of remedial integrity and operational performance in such a manner that short and long term risks and cost are balanced and optimized. Such management requires actionable information on the behavior of the repository. This information will typically be derived from diverse data (physical, chemical and hydrological), forward and inverse hydrological, geochemical and geophysical models and cost/benefit models. With the increase in volumes of data and complexity of analysis, end users face increasing challenges in obtaining information in a timely and cost effective manner. A web accessible workflow environment for performance monitoring, designed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), was implemented for a capped ARD repository (the Ruby Gulch Repository) and is part of the Gilt Edge Superfund site in South Dakota. This repository is instrumented with a geophysical, hydrological and environmental sensor network. Data from this network are transmitted automatically every two hours to a server. At the server, the data are automatically parsed in a relational database and analyzed using automatically executing scripts. The resulting information is both transmitted through automated reports and accessible by users through a web application. The combination of near real time reporting and analysis and integration with analysis tools provides for actionable information on short and long term repository behavior. The structure of a web accessible workflow system for performance monitoring is well suited for both managing data, creating information and providing access to information for diverse users.