Utility of AVS/EqP in Hazardous Waste Site Evaluations

To aid in their understanding of contaminant behavior at Superfund sites, the Assessment and Restoration Division (previously the Coastal Resource Coordination Branch then Division) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) organized and chaired a workshop entitled "The Utility of AVS/EqP in Hazardous Waste Site Evaluations." Twenty-four invited scientists, active in the field of sediment evaluation, along with the ARD staff and representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, attended the workshop held September 13-15, 1994, at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A complete listing of participants is provided in Appendix A of the PDF file.

The purpose of the workshop was threefold:

1. Clarify the scientific theory on which the equilibrium partitioning (EqP) and acid volatile sulfides (AVS) methodologies for sediment evaluation are based.

2. Determine what the EqP and AVS methodologies can and cannot tell us about sediment contamination and toxicity.

3. Identify how these methodologies can be applied to the evaluation of hazardous waste sites.

Individual presentations and panel discussions were used as vehicles of information transfer. Overall, 15 presentations were given by leaders in the fields of EqP and AVS, and four panel discussions were convened with each panel addressing three specific questions, except for Panel III that addressed six questions (Panel III was formed by merging two of the original panels). Panels consisted of three to five participants, with each participant bringing a specific element of expertise to the panel. While a formal agenda had been prepared for the workshop, to facilitate and maximize the free exchange of ideas, discussions generated by either the individual presentations or the panels were generally allowed to run their course. The unstructured atmosphere promoted uninhibited discussions and helped attain consensus on several issues.

The proceedings are an attempt to capture the tone and level of enthusiasm generated by workshop participants. Summaries are provided of each presentation and panel discussion. In preparing these summaries, an attempt was made to not only summarize the facts presented by the speaker(s) but also, to provide a sense of the overall workshop atmosphere. Audience members were encouraged to express their interpretation of the data being presented and ask questions throughout the sessions.

Download the report

Utility of AVS/EqP in Hazardous Waste Site Evaluations A discussion of two techniques, the equilibrium partitioning (EqP) method and the acid volatile sulfides (AVS) method, that provide another approach to estimating ecological impacts of toxic contaminants in sediment. (Document format: PDF, size: 246.7 K)