Transfer of chlorinated volatile organic compounds from soil and groundwater into indoor air buildings

Abstract : Soil vapor migration into house, with subsequent inhalation, is often the main exposure pathway to humans at sites contaminated with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Two approaches are commonly used for quantification of indoor concentrations: indoor gas measurement or transfer modeling from the source. Model development is relatively well advanced [1-3] but measurements for model calibration and 'validation' hardly exist in the literature. Furthermore, predictions of indoor gas concentrations from different models may vary by several orders of magnitude, depending on the application [4]. The PhD work presented here consists in comparing modelled results and experimental measurements on a test site. The site is a factory, contaminated with chlorinated solvents in unsaturated soils and groundwater. Measurements concerned contaminant concentrations and fluxes in different media and at different transfer stages, but also key model parameters. The equations of Johnson & Ettinger and VOLASOIL models were used for this comparison.