Remediation of waters contaminated with pentachlorophenol

We describe a simple method of remediating waters contaminated with pentachlorophenol (PCP), which involves filtering the water through clean soil. The filtrate is contaminant free and no PCP can be extracted from the soil. If the soil it treated with dilute acid, the filtrate is still contaminant free but 28.7% of the PCP can be extracted from the contaminated soil. Irradiating the soil with microwave energy either destroys or binds the PCP to the soil irreversibly such that none can be extracted after long periods of time.