Groundwater contaminated by organic chemicals from industrial spills, leaking underground gasoline storage tanks and landfills has caused concern about the future of a major source of drinking water. Compounds from industrial sources such as alcohols and phenols are frequently found as groundwater contaminants. These compounds are highly soluble in water and do not adsorb well to aquifer material. They also have the potential to migrate in the subsurface system achieving significant levels in drinking water supplies. In addition, they can serve as carriers for carcinogenic compounds such as benzene, toluene and xylene which are relatively insoluble in water, but are quite soluble in alcohol. A potential alternative to expensive groundwater reclamation projects is the use of the natural soil bacteria to degrade organic contaminants. Very little is known, however, about subsurface soil bacteria to man-made organic chemicals or the degradation rates of these compounds. Such information would be useful in planning cleanup or protection strategies for groundwater systems. This study was designed to measure the kinetic response of tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA), determine the biological degradation rates of methanol, ethanol, propanol, l-butanol, TBA, pentanol, phenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol; describe site specific conditions which enhance or inhibit degradation and compare biodegradation rates with thermodynamic predictions. Laboratory microcosms utilizing soil from two previously uncontaminated sites of widely varying conditions were constructed to simulate the subsurface environment. Nitrate was added to some microcosms to stimulate denitrification and metabolic inhibitors were added to others to define conditions at each site which favor biodegradation. Each of the test compounds except TBA was readily degraded in the Blacksburg soil. Inhibition of sulfate reduction by the addition of molybdate stimulated degradation of all compounds including TBA, whereas, inhibition of methanogenesis with BESA slowed the degradation rates. The addition of nitrate did not affect the biodegradation in Blacksburg soil. In the Newport News soil, all of the test compounds were biodegraded at substantially higher rates than was observed in the Blacksburg soil. The presence of the metabolic inhibitors did not affect degradation, however, the addition of nitrate increased the degradation rates of the alcohols but not the phenols. The degradation rates in each of the soils did not correlate with the bacterial population size or free energies of the reactions. / Ph. D.