Optimal Field-Scale Groundwater Remediation Using Neural Networks and the Genetic Algorithm

We present a new approach for field-scale nonlinear management of groundwater remediation. First, an artificial neural network (ANN) is trained to predict the outcome of a groundwater transport simulation. Then a genetic algorithm (GA) searches through possible pumping realizations, evaluating the fitness of each with a prediction from the trained ANN. Traditional approaches rely on optimization algorithms requiring sequential calls of the groundwater transport simulation. Our approach processes the transport simulations in parallel and ``recycles`` the knowledge base of these simulations, greatly reducing the computational and real-time burden, often the primary impediment to developing field-scale management models. We present results from a Superfund site suggesting that such management techniques can reduce cleanup costs by over a hundred million dollars.