Underground Storage Tanks

A crucial part of cleanup actions is accurately and carefully measuring progress toward cleanup levels by monitoring sites, taking samples, and analyzing these data to measure progress toward that goal.

NOTE: QA documents referred to in some of the following publications may be outdated. Visit The EPA Quality System web site for the latest version of EPA's QA documents.

Air Emissions

• Estimating Air Emissions from Petroleum UST Cleanups. This guidance document (June 1989) and companion field cards (September 1989) are intended to provide State regulators with a means of estimating air emission rates of VOCs and benzene at individual UST cleanup sites. This information may be used to develop policies regulating such air emissions.
• Air Emissions from the Treatment of Soils Contaminated with Petroleum Fuels and Other Substances (PDF) (4 pp, 14K, About PDF). (EPA/600/SR-97/116), November 1997.

Groundwater Monitoring and Sampling

• Handbook of Groundwater Protection and Cleanup Policies for RCRA Corrective Action
  contains the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) latest interpretation of policies on such topics as cleanup goals, the role of groundwater use, point of compliance, source control, and monitored natural attenuation
• "Do Monitoring Wells Monitor Well? Part I." (PDF) (13 pp, 252K, About PDF) LUSTLine Bulletin 40, March, pp.13-16. (LL40WanderLust.pdf)
• "Do Monitoring Wells Monitor Well? Part II. The Regulatory Basis For Monitoring Well Design, Siting, and Monitoring" (PDF) (17 pp, 278K, About PDF) LUSTLine Bulletin 41, June, pp.17-20. (LL41WanderLust.pdf)
• "Ground-Water Monitoring in Karst Terranes - Recommended Protocols & Implicit Assumptions" (PDF) (EPA/600/X-89/050) March 1989 (88 pp, 573K, About PDF)
• "Practical Guide for Ground-Water Sampling" (PDF) (103 pp, 1.4MB, About PDF) SWS Contract Report 374, November 1985
• "Ground Water Sampling -- A Workshop Summary" (PDF) (158 pp, 914K, About PDF) (EPA/600/R-94/205) Dallas, Texas, November 30-December 2, 1993
• "Groundwater Sampling Desk Reference" S. Karklins, WI DNR PUBL-DG-037 96, September 1996.
  • Cover to Page 67 (77 pp, 1.25MB, About PDF)
  • Page 60 to Page 169 (110 pp, 1.25MB, About PDF)
• "Handbook of Suggested Practices for the Design and Installation of Ground-Water Monitoring Wells" (PDF) (224 pp, 5.7MB, About PDF) (EPA/600/4-89/034) March 1991 *NOTE that this document does not cover direct push technologies. For information on direct push technologies see "Expedited Site Assessment Tools For Underground Storage Tank Sites: A Guide for Regulators". (EPA 510-B-97-001). March 1997.
• Low-Flow/Minimal Drawdown/Low Stress/Micropurge Purging Technique
  • "Low-Flow (Minimal Drawdown) Ground-Water Sampling Procedures" (PDF) (12 pp, 77K, About PDF) R.W. Puls and M.J. Barcelona. EPA Ground Water Issue, EPA/540/S-95/504 April 1996
  • "The Low-Down on Low Flow" Greg Giles and Jeff Story, NJ DEP, Site Remediation News, November 1997 (Vol 9 No 3) - Article 04.
  • "Low Stress (low flow) Purging and Sampling Procedure for the Collection of Ground Water Samples from Monitoring Wells" U.S. EPA Region 1, September 1996.
  • "Field Manual for Water Quality Sampling" Arizona Water Resources Research Center, College of Agriculture, The University of Arizona, Tucson, March 1995.

Soil Sampling

• "Preparation of Soil Sampling Protocols: Sampling Technologies and Strategies" (PDF) (169 pp, 2.5MB, About PDF) (EPA/600/R-92/128) July 1992
• Soil Screening Guidance
• "A Rationale for the Assessment of Errors in the Sampling of Soils" (PDF) (65 pp, 499K, About PDF) (EPA/600/R-90/013) May 1990

General Sampling Strategies

• SW 846 Manual: Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods

Data Quality Objectives, Quality Assurance/Quality Control

• The EPA Quality System (for managing the quality aspects of EPA's environmental data collection, generation, and use).
  Visit this site for the most recent documents on the following topics (and others) related to Quality Assurance:
  • Guidance for the Data Quality Objectives Process (QA/G4)
  • Guidance for the Data Quality Assessment Process: Practical Methods for Data Analysis (QA/G9)
  • EPA Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans (QA/G5)

Rate Constants

• Calculation and Use of First-Order Rate Constants for Monitored Natural Attenuation Studies (PDF) (28 pp, 751K, About PDF) (ORD Issue Paper EPA/540/S-02/500 November 2002)

Analytical Methods

• Summary Table of Field Methods for Petroleum Hydrocarbon AnalysisThis table appears as Table VI-1 of "Expedited Site Assessment Tools for Underground Storage Tank Sites: A Guide for Regulators" (EPA 510-B-97-001).
• Table of U.S. EPA Test Methods for Petroleum Hydrocarbons
  This table appears as Table B-1 in Appendix B of "Expedited Site Assessment Tools for Underground Storage Tank Sites: A Guide for Regulators" (EPA 510-B-97-001).
• Index to EPA Test Methods
  This web page provides hot links, addresses and phone numbers to various sources of EPA Test Methods.
• Methods Information Communication Exchange (MICE) Service
  This service provides timely answers to method-related questions and takes comments on technical issues regarding the EPA Office of Solid Waste methods manual.
• Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods (SW-846)
  • "SW-846" OSW's official compendium of analytical and sampling methods that have been evaluated and approved for use in complying with the RCRA regulations. SW-846 functions primarily as a guidance document setting forth acceptable, although not required, methods for the regulated and regulatory communities to use in responding to RCRA-related sampling and analysis requirements.
  • "Clarification Regarding Use of SW-846 Methods" August 7, 1998 Memo from the Director of OSW that provides additional guidance regarding certain methods in Update III to SW-846.
    • PDF Format (20 pp, 69K, About PDF)
    • WordPerfect 6.1 Format, (20 pp, 92K, You may need Corel Word Perfect Viewer to read this file )
• Monitoring Science in the RCRA Program (OSW Methods Team Home Page)
  The Methods Team is the focal point within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of Solid Waste (OSW) for expertise in analytical chemistry and characteristic testing methodologies, environmental sampling and monitoring, and quality assurance.

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