POSTSCRIPT - SUMMARY OF THE COVENTRY GROUNDWATER INVESTIGATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The broader implications of the Coventry Groundwater Investigation are discussed in this postscript. The complex interbedded sandstone and m udstone sequence under Coventry is seriously polluted by chlorinated h ydrocarbon solvents. Investigations in such terrain will require much greater expenditure than was available for this project if they are to describe the distribution and movement of pollutants in enough detail to evaluate, quantitatively, options for aquifer clean-up. It is not realistic to consider clean-up of Coventry's groundwater at the presen t time because of the lack of detailed knowledge. It is probable, at l east for the present, that clean-up is not feasible, because of hydrog eological constraints arising from the extreme variability of permeabi lity in the system and an absence of operational techniques for clean- up. Stronger, more pro-active protection of groundwater is needed. A m ajor recommendation for future investigations is a procedure to avoid open boreholes, which can allow pollution to penetrate deeper into the aquifer, and may confuse the results of sampling.