The advancement of knowledge in the design and operation of remediation systems depends to a large extent on how effectively the case histories of such systems that are presented in the professional literature are integrated into the engineering and design of the systems. Many case histories are overviews of projects, many others are detailed in some aspects but lacking in detail in other aspects. These features are usually intended to avoid criticism or to avoid implicating the budget numbers for fear of criticism from competitors or clients. The value of the technical literature, however, can not be understated. It is being ignored by many professionals in the remediation field today.
Many professionals prefer to continue re-inventing the wheel, at the expense of industry.
However, subsurface clean-up incorporating microbiological processes and wells as delivery and recovery systems have made substantial advances over the past few years. Substantial information is available from the numerous federal agencies involved in clean-up activities. Another source of technical information is the searchable database produced over the years since 1972 by the National Ground Water Association . For the cost of membership only, more than 70,000 papers, publications, and texts are searchable by key words. The URL to this service, as well as other Internet and World Wide Web sources of technical information, are presented in the Institute of Environmental Technology's Resources Page .