KYSPILL: A practical modeling system of scale-dependent dispersion after chemical spills

Scale-dependent dispersion is a phenomenon that manifests as an increase in the magnitude of the dispersion parameters with the distance of travel, or the time after the spill. This implies that contaminant plumes occupy a la rger portion of the aquifer at later times than that predicted by the tradi tional convection-dispersion models. Although it is an area of active resea rch, scale-dependent ground water pollution modeling is now available throu gh the practical application of a new hydrologic theory of dispersion, The KYSPILL software was developed as an application of this theory, KYSPILL pr ovides an easy way to simulate and graph the movement of contaminant plumes in heterogeneous soils and aquifers, It has self-supported menus and windo ws that allow the selection of the type of spill, the input of hydrogeologi c data, and the plotting of contours and breakthrough curves. It simulates biological or radioactive decay, adsorption, point or nonpoint sources in t he unsaturated zone and subsequently in the saturated zone. An automatic se lf-diagnosis system tests every input data, and an on-line, context-sensiti ve, help system aids the user in the input data and running phases, KYSPILL is a simple tool for those chemical spills with little or uncertain data. It may be used for preliminary forecasting, monitoring planning, or remedia l actions.