Statistical Assessment of Suspected Co-Mingled Plume at Tinker Air Force Base to Determine if Multiple Sources Exist

Abstract

Contamination of the groundwater at Tinker AFB in the Building 3001 area was suspected of coming from multiple sources. In particular, the Industrial Waste Treatment Plant was a suspected second source of contamination. Various statistical analyses were performed to find statistical differences between various locations at the Building 3001 area and the Industrial Waste Treatment Plant area. Statistical methods included one-way, parametric analysis of variance testing, the Kruskal-Wallis method, the Mann-Whitney method, and correlation coefficients. Neural network models were also developed to determine associations between locations and sources.