1,1,2-Trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,1-dichloroethylene, cis and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), at concentrations of 20 ppm in aqueous solutions were rapidly hydrodechlorinated to ethane (in a few minutes), on the surface of palladized iron in batch experiments that were performed in closed vials. No intermediate reaction products such as 1,1-dichloroethylene, 1,2-dichloroethylenes and vinyl chloride were detected at concentrations > 1 ppm either in the headspace or in solution. The chloromethanes, CCl 4 , CHCl 3 and CH 2 Cl 2 were also dechlorinated to methane on palladized iron; the CCl 4 was dechlorinated in a few minutes, the CHCl 3 , in less than an hour and the CH 2 Cl 2 , in 4-5 h. These results indicate that an above-ground treatment method can be designed for the treatment of groundwater contaminated with low molecular weight chlorinated hydrocarbons.