ESTIMATING THE RATE OF NATURAL BIOATTENUATION OF GROUND-WATER CONTAMINANTS BY A MASS CONSERVATION APPROACH

Recent held and experimental research has shown that certain classes o f subsurface contaminants can biodegrade at many sites (e.g., [2], [6] ). A number of factors influence the rate of biodegradation, which hel ps determine the ultimate extent of contamination. Estimation of degra dation rate constants is necessary for determining the impact of conta minants on environmental receptors. The purpose of this note is to sho w one method for estimating rate constants from field data that relies upon application of a standard solution of a linear ordinary differen tial equation (ODE).