Sampling strategies in groundwater transport and fate studies for in situ oil shale retorting

This paper proposes a new concept for designing groundwater monitoring programs to assess the effects of in situ oil shale retorting. The concept includes new ways to characterize pollution source terms, build and calibrate hydrological models, estimate stochastic systems, and optimize measurement system designs. The solution to the monitoring problem would be the minimum-cost program that estimates pollutant concentrations throughout the groundwater region within an acceptable error criterion. That program would specify the lowest number of wells that need to be drilled, their best locations and depths, and how seldom they need be sampled. The approach can be applied to meet differing requirements of characterizing regional hydrology, studying geochemistry, determining pollutant transport and fate, and designing monitoring networks to demonstrate compliance with effluent regulations.