The Road Map provides a general outline of the steps in the investigation and cleanup of a site slated for redevelopment and introduces brownfields stakeholders to the range of innovative technology options and resources available to them. The Road Map provides valuable information for a wide range of stakeholders involved in or affected by redevelopment of brownfields sites, whether through public projects, private developments, or public-private partnerships. The Fourth Edition has been expanded significantly to include new and updated resources and supplemental information.

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Coordinated through EPA's Technology Innovation Program, the Brownfields and Land Revitalization Technology Support Center ensures that Brownfields decision makers are aware of the full range of technologies available to make informed or "smart" technology decisions for their sites. The Brownfields Center provides a readily accessible resource for unbiased assessments and supporting information on options relevant to specific sites. The Center also provides a technology-oriented review process for investigation and clean-up plans for these sites. The project also provides information about other available support activities, such as those conducted by the Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Program located at the five regional Hazardous Substance Research Centers. Direct support is available to EPA regional staff, state staff, and local governments.

For more information, please contact Carlos Pachon, Technology Integration and Information Branch, (703) 603-9904, pachon.carlos@epa.gov.

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This guidance document servers to inform Brownfields site managers of important quality assurance concepts and issues, and provides a road map for identifying the type and quality environment data needed to present a clear picture of the site's environmental conditions.

Order EPA 540-R-98-038

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The Intergovernmental Data Quality Task Force (IDQTF) has developed a Uniform Federal Policy (UFP) guiding the development of Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs). UFP-QAPP worksheets streamline the process of documenting the systematic project planning process and data collection plans. The UFP-QAPP Workbook contains the individual QAPP worksheets. A fillable Workbook in MSWord format and a 20-minute video answering common questions about the relevance of the UFP QAPP can be downloaded. The UFP-QAPP Manual and other UFP information can be accessed on EPA's website. UFP-QAPP classroom instruction in using the Workbook is coordinated through the Navy.

Download Fillable Workbook (480KB/47pp/MS Word)

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Download Large MPEG-4 Video (245 MB)

Download Mobile/Video iPod® MPEG-4 Video (44MB)

Download Video Transcript (1.3MB/21pp/PDF)

UFP-QAPP Manual and Other UFP Information

UFP-QAPP Classroom Instruction

This guidance document presents a framework for developing and implementing technically defensible Monitoring Plans for hazardous waste sites. In support of the One Hazardous Waste Cleanup Program, this document was written in direct response to, and for, site managers who are legally responsible for managing removal and remedial site activities. It is intended for use at hazardous waste sites that have completed site characterization, risk assessment, and remedy selection and are in the process of implementing a removal action or site mitigation.

Download (364K/64pp/PDF)

More Information on the One Cleanup Program

This reprint, entitled "In Search of Representativeness: Evolving the Environmental Data Quality Model" was published in the November/December 2002 issue of the journal Quality Assurance: Good Practice, Regulation, and Law. This article asserts that data representativeness is fundamental to data quality, yet the data quality model for contaminant data remains focused on analytical methods to the neglect of strategies to accommodate environmental heterogeneity. Advancing technology enables the cost-effective, high density, adaptive sampling needed to assure data representativeness, supporting a next generation data quality model that explicitly manages sampling uncertainties.

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Quality Staff Documents
The National Center for Environmental Research and Quality Assurance's (NCERQA) Quality Staff (QS) serves as the central management authority for the Agency's Quality System and develops QA procedures and policies for implementation Agency-wide. EPA documents related to DQOs and quality assurance are available for download.

Quality Staff Training Software
Computer-based training (CBT) provides an easily accessible, self-paced method for training. The Quality Staff (QS) CBT provides training in quality assurance (QA) procedures, DQOs, and basic information on data collection and data analysis activities.

QS Documents

QS Training Software

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has produced the Technical Project Planning (TPP) Engineering Manual to assist project managers and technical personnel to identify project objectives and designing data collection programs at hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste sites, The TPP process helps ensure that the requisite type, quality, and quantity of data are obtained to satisfy project objectives that lead to informed decisions and site closeout.The TPP process can be used from investigation through closeout at small, simple sites as well as large, complex sites.The TPP process is a critical component of the Corps' quality management system, meeting the American National Standard for planning the collection and evaluation of environmental data.

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This reprint, entitled "Managing Uncertainty in Environmental Decisions," was published as a feature article in the October 1, 2001 issue of Environmental Science & Technology. The article argues that using field analytical technologies in the context of a dynamic work plan and careful management of sampling, analytical, and decision uncertainties can significantly bring down the costs of contaminated site investigations and cleanups, while improving confidence in project decisions.

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This US Army Corps manual (EM 1110-1-1200) describes the CSM development process, which is an integral component of both the USACE's TPP process and the Triad approach. The CSM is a description of a site and its environment that encompasses what is known and what needs to be known in order to make project decisions. It describes sources and receptors and the interactions that link these to estimate risk and design risk reductions strategies. It assists the project team to plan data collection and remediation activities, interpret data, and communicate with other parties. An accurate CSM is a primary Triad product that supports defensible decisions and cost-effective remedial designs.

Download USACE CSM Manual (1.2MB/PDF)

Much environmental data is generated using very prescriptive requirements for sample analysis because it is assumed that this will ensure "high quality data." However, deficiencies in project planning compromise the ability of this "high quality data" to support reliable project decisions. This article, written by Barry Lesnik and Deana Crumbling of USEPA and published in the Jan/Feb 2001 issue of Environmental Testing & Analysis, discusses how a properly designed sampling and analysis plan (SAP) will address the greatest sources of decision uncertainty, which invariably stems from sampling issues. Stringent laboratory requirements cannot address this major cause of erroneous project decisions, but careful planning and increased sampling density can. Field analytical methods (used with adequate project-specific analytical QC protocols) permit cost-effective resolution of sampling uncertainty through the generation of "effective data" that provide high confidence in the reliability of project decisions.

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Materials for this Dept. of Energy course, entitled "Managing Uncertainty for Environmental Decision Making" are freely available through this website. Covered topics include formulating unambiguous decision statements and decision rules, identifying and quantifying decision uncertainties, basic statistical concepts (using easy to understand examples), and fundamentals of statistically based sampling designs and decision performance diagrams.

DOE EM-5 DQO Training

The Hazardous Waste Site Characterization CD-ROM (EPA 600-C-96-001), developed by NERL's ESD-LV, compiles guidance documents and related software to aid environmental professional in the complex, multidisciplinary, characterizing of hazardous waste sites. The CD-ROM is a compilation of computer programs related to EPA's RCRA and Superfund programs that can be printed, as well as searched by key words.

Order/Purchase CD-ROM

A number of governmental, academic, and private sector organizations have articulated innovative strategies for performing hazardous site characterization and remediation in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Certain basic elements are common to all these strategies, and the cost-effectiveness and practicality of this approach has been demonstrated in a number of settings. This document was prepared by Tufts University in cooperation with U.S. EPA Region 1, and funded under President Clinton's Environmental Technology Initiative.

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RealVideo Presentation

EPA is supporting the use of dynamic work plan strategies, using the term "dynamic field activities." EPA has also released a 2003 guidance designed to provide USEPA project managers with information allowing them to oversee dynamic field activities at their sites. The guidance should also help educate other key decision-makers about their roles in implementing this process. The guidance document, accompanying fact sheet and transmittal memo are available.

Superfund DFA Home Page

Access DFA Documents

It has become a widespread misconception that EPA "approves" (in a restrictive sense) which methods may be used to generate data within the RCRA or Superfund programs, and that these methods must be used as written in SW-846. The reasoning then becomes that new technologies or analytical methods cannot be used unless they appear in SW-846. This is a myth! This August 7, 1998 Memorandum reiterates previous EPA guidance that "SW-846 methods need not be applied in a prescriptive manner."Additional discussion about the relationship between SW-846, the Performance Based Measurement System (PBMS) and the use of innovative analytical technologies is provided in a accompanying summary. More information about PBMS can be found on the OSW PBMS webpage.

View the Memorandum

Download Summary (158K/PDF)

EPA Office of Solid Waste PBMS Page

OSW PBMS/Method Flexibility Update

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports the adoption of streamlined approaches to sampling, analysis, and data management activities conducted during site assessment, characterization, and cleanup. Under the name of "the Triad approach," EPA is coordinating with other Federal and State agencies to develop an organized framework of work strategies that exploit new data collection and interpretation tools and advances in telecommunications to support real-time, field-based decision making. The Triad approach has been shown to decrease lifecycle costs for site investigation, cleanup, and monitoring, while increasing confidence in the protectiveness of project decisions. The Triad Fact Sheet provides an overview of Triad concepts, while the Triad Resources Fact Sheet lists educational, training, and guidance resources that either already exist or are in development.

Download Triad Fact Sheet (109K/PDF)

Download Triad Resources Fact Sheet (308K/PDF)

This report provides information about experiences in the use of field analytical and site characterization technologies at contaminated sites drawn from 204 technology applications. For each technology, information is presented on the reported uses of the technology; including the types of pollutants and media for which the technology was used; reported advantages and limitations of the technology; and cost data for the technology, when available. Information was obtained from federal and state site managers and from the Vendor Field Analytical and Characterization Technologies System (Vendor FACTS) database.

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Download Tables (320K/PDF)

This reprint, entitled "In Search of Representativeness: Evolving the Environmental Data Quality Model" was published in the November/December 2002 issue of the journal Quality Assurance: Good Practice, Regulation, and Law. This article asserts that data representativeness is fundamental to data quality, yet the data quality model for contaminant data remains focused on analytical methods to the neglect of strategies to accommodate environmental heterogeneity. Advancing technology enables the cost-effective, high density, adaptive sampling needed to assure data representativeness, supporting a next generation data quality model that explicitly manages sampling uncertainties.

Download Article (109K/PDF)

U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) is promoting more effective strategies for characterizing and monitoring hazardous waste sites. In particular, the wide-spread adoption of a new paradigm using an integrated triad of systematic planning, dynamic work plans, and on-site analysis for data collection and technical decision-making at hazardous waste sites is recommended.

Read an article expressing the perspective of Barry Lesnik, the National Organic Methods Program Manager of the Office of Solid Waste, forecasting how environmental analytical laboratories will perform organic analyses in the near future. Key topics covered in this article, entitled "The Organic Environmental Lab in the 21st Century: A Vision," include the incorporation of the paradigm shift from prescriptive methods to performance-based measurement systems (PBMS), the use of "green" methods, and the increased use of both screening methods and on-site analysis.

Lab Vision Article

This reprint, entitled "Managing Uncertainty in Environmental Decisions," was published as a feature article in the October 1, 2001 issue of Environmental Science & Technology. The article argues that using field analytical technologies in the context of a dynamic work plan and careful management of sampling, analytical, and decision uncertainties can significantly bring down the costs of contaminated site investigations and cleanups, while improving confidence in project decisions.

Download (574K/PDF)

So...you want to use field analytical methods to generate data for your hazardous waste site, but you are not sure whether such data 'will stand up if we have to go to court'? This article, written by Bart Simmons of Cal/EPA, discusses several Federal and California court rulings that have demonstrated that if data sets are scientifically defensible, they are legally defensible: "The rules for the defensibility of field methods are no different than those for fixed laboratory methods."

Bart Simmons is Chief of the Hazardous Materials Laboratory in the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). He received a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley. He can be reached at bsimmons@dtsc.ca.gov. Any questions or comments about this article should be addressed to Dr. Simmons.

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With the wide range of field-portable instrumentation now available, it is possible to perform rapid, information rich analyses on-site. People who use field-portable equipment quickly realize that there is a lot more to doing analyses in the field than just operating the equipment. This article, written by Craig Crume and published in the Nov/Dec 2000 issue of Environmental Testing & Analysis, discusses the challenges, strategies, and successes of field analysis.

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This set of documents provides Remedial Project Managers (RPMs), Onsite Coordinators, and their contractors with sampling and analytical methods for determining the success of a remediation effort. These manuals provide a technical interpretation of what sampling and data analysis methods are acceptable for verifying attainment of cleanup standards.

Volume 1: Soils (3.9 MB/PDF)

Volume 2: Groundwater (6.5 MB/PDF)

Volume 3: Reference-based Soils (3.6 MB/PDF)

Reliable environmental decisions require data of known quality, which in turn requires an adequate QA/QC program to identify and control sources of error. When investigating a relatively inhomogeneous medium such as soil, the sampling component introduces much greater error than the analytical component. This 1989 document explains vital aspects of a representative sampling and analysis design, such as the concept of "sample support," using real-world examples and detailed discussion.

DQO terms have not been used consistently over the years, and DQO terminology usage in this 1989 document is out-of-date according to current recommendations. This paper is intended to provide a basic conceptual understanding of DQO-related terms in the context of today's hazardous waste site cleanup activities. The discussion provided in this paper has been reviewed by the various DQO and data quality specialists within USEPA Headquarters to ensure that the concepts presented are consistent with EPA's original intent for DQO terminology and with the direction that program needs are currently taking.

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Download DQO Terminology (189K/PDF)

This set of documents describes two methods of working with samples in statistical analysis: Compositing and Ranked Sets. The benefits of each are discussed.

Volume 1: Composite Sampling (914K/PDF)

Ranked Set Sampling (971K/PDF)

This guide was prepared within the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Work Session on Statistical Dissemination and Communication. It is intended as a practical tool to help managers, statisticians and media relations officers use text, tables, graphics and other information to bring statistics to life using effective writing techniques. It contains suggestions, guidelines and examples – but not golden rules. This publication recognizes that there are many practical and cultural differences among statistical offices, and that approaches vary from country to country.

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CLU-IN contains additional resources on preparing representative sampling designs within the Systematic Planning and Implementation Software sections of our Site Characterization area.

Visit Implementation Software section

Visit Systematic Planning section

Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) is a free software package from the University of Tennessee that integrates modules for visualizing contaminant concentrations, geospatial analysis, statistical analysis, human health risk assessment, cost/benefit analysis, sampling design, and decision analysis. SADA can be used to address site-specific concerns when characterizing a contaminated site, assessing risk, determining the location of future samples, and when designing remedial action.

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ProUCL 4.0 includes statistical methods that can be used to address statistics for exposure and risk assessment studies, attainment of cleanup standards (EPA, 1989), estimate screening levels (EPA, 1996), and background evaluations. ProUCL 4.0 supports the Background Guidance Document for CERCLA Sites (EPA, 2002a), and the Guidance Document to compute 95% Upper Confidence Limits (EPA, 2002b). Some of the statistical methods can be used in GW monitoring applications (EPA, 1992). See the website for additional description and references.

More Information and Download ProUCL 4.0

The cleanup of a contaminated site is not complete until a defensible data-driven decision is made that residual concentrations of hazardous chemicals at the site are less than required by all applicable cleanup standards and guidelines. Statistical tests are important aids for making such decisions. This document gives an overview of the process.

Download Overview (1.0 MB/PDF)

Fully Integrated Environmental Location Decision Support (FIELDS) software is a package under development through USEPA Region 5. FIELDS is a sophisticated mix of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), a database, statistical and geostatistical analysis algorithms, and imaging technologies. FIELDS System beta version software is currently available on CD-ROM. It is still being tested and debugged, so USEPA would like to limit its availability to Federal, State and tribal agencies only.

FIELDS website

The Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable (FRTR) Optimization website offers a variety of software products and information related to the use of statistical and geostatistics for the purpose of making long-term monitoring systems more cost-effective.

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In 1995, USEPA's Environmental Response Team (ERT) prepared a series of guidances to support representative sampling of air, water, soil, waste, and biological materials. These guidances are downloadable as a series of 8 pdf files from the "Superfund Program Representative Sampling Guidance Documents" menu selection on ERT's "Products" website.

USEPA ERT Products Page

This 1990 document is meant to assist practitioners to assess the errors and uncertainties in the investigation of contaminated soils. It presents the rationale behind determining how many, and what type, of samples are required to assess the quality of data in a field sampling effort; and how information from quality assessment samples can be used to identify and control sources of error and uncertainties in the measurement process.

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These documents are designed to offer guidance on CLP low concentration organic, organic, inorganic, and dioxin and furan analytical data evaluation and review. It is intended to assist in the technical review of analytical data generated through the CLP.

View or Download National Functional Guidelines

Several EPA documents managed by the Quality Staff provide extensive statistical assistance for sampling design (G-5S) and data interpretation (G-9). These documents are available for download from the QS website.

QS Documents

This December 1995 EPA Superfund guidance walks the reader through the variables that relate to the site-specific conditions, the sampling design approach, and the techniques for collection and preparation of representative samples. The importance of the conceptual site model (CSM) is discussed, and with the need for representative data collection to capture the concentration of the contaminant(s) of concern at a given time and location, reflecting the variation in pollutant presence and concentration throughout a site. Since important and potentially costly decisions are based on sampling data, it is critical that project managers and field personnel understand how accurately the sampling data characterize the actual site conditions when identifying threats, delineating sources and extent of contamination, and confirming the achievement of clean-up standards.

The Superfund guidance for representative sampling is available in 5 volumes covering soil, water, waste, air, and biological materials.

Download Soil Guidance (1.0MB/PDF)

Download Water Guidance (1.6MB/PDF)

Download Waste Guidance (960K/PDF)

Download Biological Guidance (788K/PDF)

Download Air Guidance (1.1MB/PDF)

USEPA has updated its guidance to reflect the latest evaluation of currently available data and technologies for VOC sample handling and preservation procedures for solid samples. The procedures are designed to minimize VOC losses through the two most common mechanisms, volatilization and biodegradation. This guidance appears in SW-846 Method 5035A, which includes an accompanying 30-page appendix of detailed explanatory material.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has prepared a "Strategies" document to guide its staff to use sample collection and handling procedures that minimize VOC losses from solid samples. The USACE document supplements existing guidance provided in SW-846 Method 5035, and addresses selected aspects of sample collection, handling, preparation, and shipment. A decision tree is also provided to guide the selection of high-level and low-level sample preservation methods

Other USACE documents relevant to VOC sampling and analysis are available through the Corps' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), such as the Sampling and On-Site Analytical Methods for Volatiles in Soil and Groundwater: Field Guidance Manual (CRREL Report 99-16); Storage and Preservation of Soil Samples for Volatile Compound Analysis (Special Report 99-5); and Soil-Vapor Versus Discrete Soil Sample Measurements for VOCs in the Near-Surface Vadose Zone: Feasibility Study (Special Report 98-7). These reports (and other useful reports) are available for download from the USACE Reports and Products/Technical Reports website.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has published a guide. ASTM D4547-98: Standard Guide for Sampling Waste and Soils for Volatile Organic Compounds.

Download Method 5035A

Download USACE VOC Sampling

Download USACE VOC Decision Tree

Visit the USACE Reports and Products/Technical Reports website

Visit the ASTM website

Diffusion sampler methods can save from $275-$600 per sample in labor costs. The USGS, the Air Force, and the ITRC (an interstate cooperation work group) partnered to prepare a report summarizing the proper use of diffusion samplers in wells. A second report presents six case studies where the PDB samplers were tested under field conditions. Both reports can be obtained electronically. Hard copies can also be purchased from the USGS by calling 888-ASK-USGS.

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ITRC Diffusion Sampler Information Center

Air Force Information on Diffusion Samplers

Sample handling strategies to ensure the representativeness of soil samples for metals analysis and the comparability of field-portable XRF data for metals are discussed in detail in two papers authored by Stephen Shefsky and presented at the 1997 International Symposium of Field Analytical Methods for Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Chemicals.

Soil Sample Handling Paper (103K/PDF)

XRF Data Comparability Paper (104K/PDF)

This guidance provides education and instruction for managing a potential weakness in environmental data quality for solid materials. Representative data are the foundation of correct decisions and effective remedial designs. This document shows how analytical subsampling is a crucial link for representative samples. It defines "sample representativeness" in terms of the population of interest to the decision, which may or may not be based on a bulk average. Examples show how careless subsampling can severely bias analytical results.

Download Guidance (2.9MB/156pp/PDF)

The heterogeneous particulate nature of soil samples can cause wide variability in analytical results if the subsampling and sample splitting procedures used are not carefully selected and controlled. This study (published on-line May 14, 2002 through the Journal of Chemometrics by Gerlach et al) demonstrates the ability of riffle splitting to minimize subsampling error. In contrast, grab sampling (the most common form of subsampling) produced the worst data quality. Sample mixing prior to grab sampling may not be sufficient to avoid sampling errors when matrices are composed of particulates of different sizes and densities, as is typical of environmental soils. Sampling accuracy was at least 2 orders of magnitude worse than the analytical method accuracy of this study.

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Differences in personnel, procedures, and equipment all lead to variability in data results when collecting a “representative” ground water sample. A number of factors come into play when determining the best sampling method for a particular site and use of the data in decision-making. EPA released a Ground Water Forum Issue Paper, Ground-Water Sampling Guidelines for Superfund and RCRA Project Managers in May 2002 to discuss how to choose the optimal sampling method and equipment.

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Polyethylene-membrane passive-vapor-diffusion samplers, or PVD samplers, have been shown to be an effective and economical reconnaissance tool for detecting and identifying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in bottom sediments of surface-water bodies in areas of ground-water discharge. Examples of applications at nine hazardous-waste sites in New England demonstrate the utility of PVD samplers in a variety of hydrologic settings, including rivers, streams, ponds, wetlands, and coastal shorelines. Results of PVD sampling at these sites have confirmed the presence and refined the extent of VOC-contaminated ground-water-discharge areas where contaminated ground water is known, and identified areas of VOC-contaminated ground-water discharge where ground-water contamination was previously unknown. The principal VOCs detected were chlorinated and petroleum hydrocarbons. Vapor concentrations in samplers range from not detected to more than 1,000,000 parts per billion by volume. These results provided insights about contaminant distributions and ground-water-flow patterns in discharge areas, and have guided the design of focused characterization activities.

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The entire analytical process has many steps that must be properly performed if the analytical process is to produce reliable data for decision-making purposes. This article, written by Charles A. Ramsey and Jennifer Suggs (published in the March/April 2001 issue of Environmental Testing & Analysis), describes some of the basic scientific principles that should be part of any subsampling protocol, whether performed in a fixed laboratory or as part of on-site analysis.

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This August 2002 report from the USACE Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) describes tests of 5 relatively new groundwater-sampling devices (the Kabis, HydraSleeve, Discrete Interval, Pneumo-Bailer, and USGS Passive Diffusion Bag [PDB] samplers) to determine their ability to recover representative concentrations for discrete groundwater intervals for a variety of analytes, including volatile organics, explosives, pesticides, and metals. The first phase of the study included several standpipe experiments with known concentrations of analytes. In the second phase, the devices were used in the field to sample TCE from a deep well and were compared with samples taken using low-flow sampling.

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As interest in the health of rivers and streams increases, and new water-quality regulations are promulgated, interest in sediment and water-quality sampling equipment and technologies has increased. While much information on the subject exists, a comprehensive summary document of sediment sampling equipment and technology is lacking. This report seeks to provide such a summary. The purpose of this report is to provide (1) a general understanding of sediment sampling equipment and technology, (2) guidance for the selection of the appropriate equipment, and (3) an introduction to new Federal Interagency Sedimentation Project (FISP) approved sampling equipment.

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The study described in this article evaluated the simplification of VOC collection and storage by freezing the sample within its storage device at -12 ±3°C. It was demonstrated that freezing the sample in its storage device immediately after collection preserves VOC concentrations in all samples matrices (including biologically active soils that would tend to degrade BTEX compounds) and for both types of VOC analytes for up to 14 days of storage. Sample integrity was maintained with less than a 5% loss of analyte concentrations even after a 14-day holding time.

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EPA released the Soil Screening Guidance in 1996 as a tool to assist the evaluation and cleanup of contaminated sites. It consists of 2 parts: a User's Guide and a Technical Background Document providing detailed science behind the recommendations in the shorter User's Guide. The User's Guide provides advice on the development of conceptual site models (CSMs) for contaminated surface and subsurface soils. Attachment A of the User's Guide provides template forms to help practitioners work through CSM development. All parts of the Soil Screening Guidance (User's Guide, Technical Document, and Attachments) can be downloaded from EPA's Soil Screening Guidance webpage.

EPA Soil Screening Guidance

Two letters from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) are posted on the USEPA Office of Solid Waste's website to provide DOT's positions on shipping preserved environmental samples. One letter clarifies that acid- and base-preserved environmental samples do not need to be automatically classified as "hazardous materials," which should greatly reduce the costs of shipping samples by air. The other letter reconciles competing EPA and DOT requirements for headspace in VOC sample containers shipped by air.

OSW Test Methods News Items

This document is designed to provide users with general information regarding environmental sample collection for the USEPA's Contract Laboratory Program (CLP). This document provides minimum CLP requirements, an explanation of the general sampling process sequence of events, and any related information. The appendices contain useful reference information and checklists to aid in planning and documenting sampling activities.

View or Download Guidance

This case study describes how systematic planning allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to design and implement cost-effective cleanup of pesticide-contaminated soils at the Wenatchee Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center site. Immunoassay kits for pesticides provided real-time results that guided a dynamic work plan to seamlessly integrate site characterization and cleanup (soil removal, segregation and disposal) with surgical precision. Expensive fixed lab analyses were reserved for demonstrating that decisions based on the immunoassay data were reliable, and for generating a statistically valid data set to comply with State closure requirements. Characterization, cleanup and site closure activities were completed within a 4-month time frame. The entire project cost ($589K) was half the cost estimated under a more traditional site characterization and remediation scenario ($1.2 million). Additional details about project implementation can be found in the project's work plans and in the FRTR/USACE Cost and Performance Report.

Download Case Study (501K/PDF)

USACE Work Mgt Plan

USACE Quality Assurance Project Plan

USACE Field Sampling Plan

FRTR/USACE Cost and Performance Report

FRTR Homepage

The Guide to preparing case studies is offered to assist site managers and practitioners in their efforts to document applications of innovative site characterization technologies and share their experiences.

Order EPA 542-B-98-009

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This case study is the first in a series designed to provide cost and performance information for innovative tools that support less costly and more representative site characterization. It is a condensation of the information provided in the much more detailed Hanscom AFB Report available below.

Download Case Study (1.7MB/PDF)

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This technology evaluation report describes deployment of the HAPSITE GC/MS by an analytical service provider to produce low-cost, real-time VOC data in the field using EPA Method 8260. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) used the data to make real-time decisions concerning borings placement and long-term monitoring wells installation within a single field mobilization of 3 weeks. The USACE estimated they saved $27,000 (26% of total projected costs) and 4 days of field time over project costs that would have been incurred if fixed laboratory analyses had been used. The report includes a summary of the QA/QC protocol used and project-specific analytical performance.

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This case study is one of a series designed to provide cost and performance information for innovative tools that support less costly and more representative site characterization. These case studies will include reports on new technologies as well as novel applications of familiar tools or processes

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The Environmental Assessment Division of Argonne National Laboratory has for many years been using the same concepts and strategies captured in the Triad approach. Within DOE, these activities are often called by the name Expedited Site Characterization (ESC) or Adaptive Sampling and Analysis Programs (ASAPs). Projects managed using ASAPs or ECS have been written into several reports which can be accessed here.

Download ASAP Brochure (495K/PDF)

Download ASAP Innovative Technology Summary Report (662K/PDF)

Download Application of ASAP Techniques to Norm Sites Report (6.8MB/PDF)

In the fall of 2004, the South Dakota Petroleum Release Compensation Fund (PRCF) conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the Triad approach to manage decision uncertainties at petroleum release sites with assistance from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Columbia Technologies. Results of the study indicated that use of the Triad reduced overall data collection and analysis costs by as much as 70% for a given site. The approach also assisted in expediting work and allowing the project team flexibility to collect data necessary for decision making in a single mobilization.

View Project Poster (1.4 MB/1p.PDF)

View Project Profile

The Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) Sampling, Characterization and Monitoring (SCM) Team has prepared and released a technical/regulatory guidance document for the Triad appproach. It introduces the Triad approach as an integrated package of concepts leading to modernized practices for how contaminated site work is conducted.

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The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (FL DEP's) Dryclean Solvent Cleanup Program (DSCP) has developed an innovative program to address site assessment and cleanup of contaminated drycleaning facilities. This paper describes legislative, administrative and technical aspects of the program that permit drastic reductions in the time and costs associated with assessing soil and groundwater contamination for this site type.

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In this report, results of the dynamic site investigation and field method performance are presented. In this study, field analytical instrumentation and methods were used to support a risk assessment study at the airfield at Hanscom Air Force Base (HAFB, Bedford, Massachusetts).

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