This is an award to support a project to determine the transport, fate, and effects produced by protozoa in a plume of organically contaminated groundwater as influenced by physical and chemical conditions of the contaminated aquifer, and to determine the role that protozoa play in influencing the numbers and kinds of bacteria that survive transport through a contaminated aquifer. This project includes field studies in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (Ronald W. Harvey) at its Groundwater Contamination Site located at the Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The project also includes a subcontract with the British Museum of Natural History (Colin R. Curds). This project addresses factors of great significance in determining the role that protozoa play in affecting microbial populations in aquifers that have been contaminated by organic chemicals. Results may be applied in engineering design of systems for decontamination of aquifers by use of a bioremediation process alone or as part of a system including physical and chemical processes.
