It's a difficult science, not as simple as using straight numerical cleanup values. Other new trends are becoming evident. Schleyer offers a typical scenario of the discovery of a tank or pipeline leak which brings BDM to a site to drill observation wells to determine how the groundwater and soil are affected. The contaminant is monitored to see where it's going. That's where intrinsic bioremediation takes place.
Microorganisms eat the contaminant.
The process stimulates naturally occurring bacteria to assist in the degradation of the contamination. These reports asked if active remediation was really necessary or if sites might better simply clean up on their own. An intermediate cleanup program is the one called brownfields. Although there is common agreement that the industry is in a decline, Brewer points out that business is picking up in mining, especially copper mining in southwestern New Mexico and new coal mining in the northwest part of the state. This is due in part to the fact that mines are currently required to put in place now a closure plan for the future.