Environmental practices of the DoD have mirrored those of society as a whole. As a result, many of our past waste disposal practices have resulted in chemical contamination of the environment. Environmental remediation tackles soil, sediment, groundwater, surface water, and structures, contaminated with hazardous and toxic materials generated by past military activities and associated industrial operations. Better, safer, and more affordable site characterization methods being developed will increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve post-closure monitoring of field remediation efforts. Many of the 21,000 contaminated sites on the 1700 worldwide DoD installations are undergoing some form of remedial action.
Site remediation is an ongoing process, driven by legal and regulatory requirements.
Without the required technologies, costs of site remediation will remain high and will divert scarce resources from the primary war-fighting missions.