Information detailing Brookhaven National Laboratory's groundwater cleanup program is now available in the annual Groundwater Status Report. Each year the Laboratory publishes a report to review the year's challenges, accomplishments, and path forward with regard to cleaning up specified areas of groundwater contamination.

The 2001 Groundwater Status Report is available online at http://www.bnl.gov/erd/groundwater.html, or you can request a CD version by contacting Jeanne D'Ascoli in Community Relations at 631 344-2277.

Copies are also available for review at the Longwood Public Library, the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, the Brookhaven National Laboratory Research Library, and the office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in New York City.

Report highlights include:

• On Laboratory property, a new groundwater treatment system was brought on line, bringing the total of active systems to six. Another system was placed in standby mode because cleanup goals were achieved. Off of Laboratory property, installation of six additional groundwater treatment systems is planned. One additional off-site system, which began operation in 1999, continues to operate in an industrial park south of the Laboratory.

• In 2001, 609 pounds of volatile organic compounds were removed from the aquifer by the Laboratory’s treatment systems. These systems have removed a total of approximately 2,950 pounds, which is estimated to be about 10 percent of the total amount slated for cleanup.