Permeable reactive barriers: A sustainable technology for cleaning contaminated groundwater in developing countries

Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) are a proven technology for remediating contaminated groundwater, particularly on industrial and mining sites. PRBs are a sustainable technology that can operate over a long time scale with low maintenance. Over the past 10-15 years, there have been great strides in refining site characterisation techniques (i.e. geophysical techniques), developing/discovering reactive materials/sorbents (i.e. Fe(0) filings), and the installation and design of PRBs (i.e. funnel-and-gate design) which have increased the cost-effeciveness of this technology. Prior to installation, careful consideration of the ease of removal of the PRB should be considered as part of the design. This is important as the PRB may eventually need to be decommissioned. PRBs are a sustainable site specific remediation technology that has the great potential to work well as a part of a larger scale integrated water resource management programme in developing countries.