Message #73: March 2003

Welcome to TechDirect. March 2003 begins the seventh year of TechDirect delivery and our 73rd issue. TechDirect was first sent out in late February, 1997 to around 1500 people in the United States. It now has recipients in more than 75 countries. Since the February 1 message, TechDirect gained 273 new subscribers for a total of 16,030. We are extremely happy so many people find this service of continuing practical use. If you feel the service is valuable, please share TechDirect with your colleagues. Anyone interested in subscribing to TechDirect may do so on CLU-IN at http://clu-in.org/techdirect. All previous issues of TechDirect are archived there.

Mention of non-EPA documents or presentations does not constitute a U.S. EPA endorsement of their contents, only an acknowledgment that they exist and may be relevant to the TechDirect audience.

Internet Seminar

Anacostia River Capping Project - March 12. This seminar is sponsored by the South/Southwest Superfund Hazardous Substance Research Center. The presenters will provide an overview of innovative capping technologies for contaminated sediments. They will also discuss capping designs under consideration for field scale use in the Anacostia (Washington DC) River, background on the Anacostia, status and schedule of the demonstration project, and experimental results on several reactive media (zero-valent iron and coke sorbent) being considered as part of an "active cap" design. For more information and to register, see http://clu-in.org/studio .

Documents and Websites

Status of EPA's Interim Assessment Guidance for Perchlorate. This memorandum was issued by the U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. The memorandum reaffirms the 1999 interim guidance on perchlorate originally transmitted on June 18, 1999 (the "1999 Interim Guidance"). In the absence of a finalized oral health risk benchmark for perchlorate, but in light of ongoing assessment activities by EPA, states and other interested parties, EPA is re-affirming the 1999 interim guidance based on a provisional RfD range. Because an RfD represents a scientific estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude ) of a daily oral exposure to a human population including sensitive subgroups which is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse health effects, it does not represent a "bright-line" between safety and risk, but provides a starting point for risk management decisions. Because women of childbearing age and the developing fetus are the most sensitive receptors for perchlorate exposures, the standard adult default body weight and water consumption factors apply in developing a range of provisional clean-up levels. Because of the approaches used to derive health risk benchmarks in recent analyses, no additional adjustment for childhood exposure is necessary (January 2002, 5 pages). View or download at http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/docs/perchlorate/perchlorate_memo.pdf . The 1999 Interim Guidance referenced in the memorandum can be found at http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/docs/perchlorate/interim_guid_perchlorate_6-99.pdf

Perchlorate Remediation Information. A new web page devoted to perchlorate remediation has been launched on the CLU-IN site. This page provides access to over 40 technical reports, journal articles, web pages, and other materials from public and private sources. Representing the latest advancements in the research and application of perchlorate treatment technologies, these resources provide up to date information in a number or formats including treatability studies, cost and performance reports, case studies, presentations, and peer reviewed literature. View and download the perchlorate remediation resources on CLU-IN at http://clu-in.org/perchlorate.

Rutas a Tecnologías para Investigación y Limpieza de Terrenos Contaminados (EPA 542-B-02-001). Rutas fue creado para una amplia gama de usuarios como ayuda a partes interesadas en recuperar terrenos contaminados para facilitar su reutilización. Rutas ayuda a identificar y seleccionar tecnologías innovadoras en cada uno de los pasos de la recuperación de terrenos contaminados -- evaluación, investigación, estudio de opciones de recuperación y su diseño e implementación. Cada una de sus secciones identifica qué preguntas sueln surgir y qué información existe para ayudar a contestarlas y tomar la mejor decisión para cada sitio. Los apéndices incluyen, entre otras cosas, una lista de los contaminantes más comunes encontrados en terrenos contaminados tí picos y las tecnologías cuyo uso puede resultar más apropiado, una guía detallada de los términos y un glosario de términos técnicos en español e inglés (febrero 2003, 170 páginas). Pueden descargar Rutas en Internet desde http://clu-in.org/techpubs.htm . This document is also available in English. See http://clu-in.org/Roadmap .

Characterization and Remediation of Soils at Closed Small Arms Firing Ranges (SMART-1). This document was developed by the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC). The guidance is designed to display a logical and easy-to-follow decision diagram for determining how best to remediate lead and lead-contaminated soils at closed small arms firing ranges. A decision diagram is included to assist the practitioner in formulating a proper strategy for removing the threat that metal, particularly lead, presents at small arms firing ranges. This decision diagram and accompanying documentation is valuable for planning, evaluating, and approving lead soil remediation systems (February 2003, 207 Pages). View or download at http://www.itrcweb.org/SMART-1.pdf .

Alternative Landfill Cover Profiles On-line. Prepared by U.S. EPA's Technology Innovation Office, this database contains information about proposed, tested, or installed alternative design covers at waste disposal sites, including municipal solid waste and hazardous waste landfills and radioactive waste sites. The majority of alternative design covers featured are evapotranspiration (ET) covers and capillary barrier covers. As of February 2003, the database included 56 landfills/waste sites and 85 covers (some sites have more than 1 cover). Most of the cover projects are demonstrations. Several are full-scale applications. To access the profiles, visit http://cluin.org/products/altcovers .

Technology Status Report: Treatment Trains for Remediation of Soil and Groundwater (TS-03-01). This report was produced by the Ground-Water Remediation Technologies Analysis Center (GWRTAC). It includes an appendix that contains 48 case studies where treatment trains were used to remediate groundwater or soil, either in situ or ex situ. For the purposes of this document, a treatment train was defined as the sequential use of unique remediation technologies to treat the same volume of contaminated soil or groundwater. Several summary tables and figures were generated from the compiled information, and interpretive text provided. (January 2003, 167 pages). View or download the full report at http://www.gwrtac.org/pdf/train_full.pdf For other download options, see http://www.gwrtac.org/html/tech_status.html#TRAINS .

Groundwater Central©, a new portal for Internet-based groundwater information that consists of a resource "links" database and several integrated communication components, was launched by the Ground-Water Remediation Technologies Analysis Center (GWRTAC). The "smart" search engine provides a one-stop shop to browse for a wide variety of information from on-line publications, to case studies, data repositories, vendors, and announcements for events. Communication center components integrated into Groundwater Central© include a public discussion forum, public events calendar, and a chat room. For more information, see http://www.groundwatercentral.info .

New York/ New Jersey Harbor: Alternative Methods for Ex-Situ Sediment Decontamination and Environmental Manufacturing. This report, prepared by Jessica L. Wargo, an EPA National Network of Environmental Management Studies fellow, is intended to provide a basic summary and current status on the New York/New Jersey Harbor Sediment Decontamination Project. The scope of the report was developed by EPA's Technology Innovation Office and sponsored by the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program. The paper summarizes five of the seven technologies for which pilot studies were performed under this project. Descriptions on each technology, along with the decontamination efficiency and beneficial use product are included in the report (January 2003, 58 pages). View or download at http://clu-in.org/techpubs.htm .

Solidification/Stabilization Website. This new web site is dedicated to information on solidification/stabilization technology. A major objective of this site is to provide a one-stop resource for relevant information on using S/S treatment.. A key feature of the site is a list of important EPA and Army Corps of Engineer publications on solidification/stabilization. PDFs of all of these publications are available for free on this Web site. The site also provides a bibliography of important S/S publications in one place. See http://www.solidificationstabilization.org .

Conferences and Symposia

In-situ Contaminated Sediment Capping Workshop, Cincinnati, OH, May 12-14. This workshop, sponsored by EPA, NOAA, USACE, the Navy, and EPRI will include presentations from regulators, academia, and industry on site characterization; cap design; case studies; new developments; and monitoring. It will be a national workshop to review the science, technology and applications of capping at contaminated sediment sites, examine lessons learned, and discuss future directions. For registration and more information, refer to the Electric Power Research Institute web site at http://www.epri.com/event_attachments/1686_1007587.pdf and go to Events, May 2003.

Using Science to Assess Environmental Vulnerabilities (ReVA-MAIA) conference, May 13-15. This conference is sponsored by the U.S EPA. Its purpose is to bring environmental decision makers and researchers together to illustrate practical uses of recently developed approaches, tools, and decision support systems that can be used to assess current and future environmental vulnerabilities. The conference will highlight research approaches and models developed by ORD's Regional Environmental Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) program; however, all researchers interested in the assessment of environmental vulnerability and environmental forecasting are invited to participate. Agenda and registration information available at http://www.reva-maia.org .

The Third Bi-annual Conference on Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sites in Arctic and Cold Climates (ARCSACC), Edmonton, Alberta May 4-6. This workshop was designed to be a useful source of information to environmental professionals working in cold climates. It is intended to provide a forum for the exchange of information gathered through research and project experience in Arctic and cold climate locations. The focus of the workshop is on the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites in cold climates. The papers to be presented represent the issues associated with contaminated sites in cold climates, laboratory research work, full scale project experience as well as case studies. See http://www.civil.ualberta.ca/arcsacc/ .