Continuous groundwater-level monitoring to support the development of a conceptual site model development at the Geneva Industries/Fuhrmann Energy Superfund Site, Houston, Texas, 2022–23

The Geneva Industries/Fuhrmann Energy Superfund Site in southeastern Houston, Texas was historically used as a site for petroleum exploration and petrochemical production and is currently (2023) inactive. Previous remedies to clean up the contaminated site included: excavation and off-site disposal of polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated soils, capping of residual water on-site with a perimeter slurry wall, the recovery and treatment of trichloroethylene-contaminated groundwater, and institutional controls (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019). A conceptual site model (CSM) does not yet exist and is needed to (1) understand how site conditions have changed since earlier investigations; (2) reevaluate site contaminants of concerns; and (3) determine whether additional remedial actions are needed. A five-phase approach was proposed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to obtain the data needed to develop a CSM. As the second phase in that approach, the USGS in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collected continuous groundwater-level data from five selected groundwater wells at the Superfund site from June 2022 through January 2023.