- Chlorinated Solvent Project Closure
- CLE Course Offering in Illinois
- Development of Surface Water Derived - Groundwater Cleanup Standards
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SMA’s Development of a Geoprobe - MIP “Hybrid” Sampling System
- SMA’s Drone Capabilities
- Employee Spotlight - Tom Marzec, Project Scientist
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CHLORINATED SOLVENT PROJECT CLOSURE |
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Former Scott Manufacturing Facility
Voluntary Remediation Program
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St. John – Mittelhauser & Associates, Inc., a Terracon Company (SMA) recently received closure approval from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management through the Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) for the former Scott Manufacturing Company facility in Scottsburg, Indiana. The site manufactured automobile fuel tanks and bumpers from steel and aluminum from 1964 until 1997. Environmental investigations at the site began in 1999 and identified the presence of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) and 1,1-dichloroethene (DCE) in soil and groundwater. The prior consultant at the site implemented an ineffective groundwater pump-and-treat remediation that likely would not have achieved closure for the site.
The City of Scottsburg, which currently owns a portion of the site, utilized money from a Brownfield cleanup grant to retain SMA to expedite closure of the site. SMA determined that TCA and DCE-impacted groundwater was migrating in three separate plumes and directions because the site is located on a topographic high. The VOCs detected in soil and groundwater were determined to be associated with leakage from the floor drain trench system within the facility and a former acid etch pit.
SMA expedited site closure by implementing the following measures:
- Completion of a membrane interface probe (MIP) investigation to guide in-situ soil treatment in the source areas and define the volume of soil requiring chemical treatment.
- Treatment of on-site soils using in-situ chemical oxidation with potassium permanganate.
- Utilization of a field-mobile laboratory for soil verification sampling to expedite the chemical oxidation treatment process.
- Enhanced biological remediation of TCA and DCE in groundwater through the use of emulsified edible oil injections.
- Demonstration of plume stability for the three VOC groundwater plumes.
- Implementation of an area-wide institutional control in the form of an Environmental Restrictive Ordinance (ERO) to prohibit potable groundwater use by wells over a limited portion of the City.
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CLE COURSE OFFERING IN ILLINOIS |
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PFAS: Overview, Regulatory Setting,
and Future Considerations
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SMA has been following the federal and state regulatory developments of PFAS and has been instrumental in organizing and delivering PFAS update seminars to its clients and professional organizations, including the Central States Water Environment Association.
SMA is pleased to provide our colleagues in the legal community in Illinois a one-hour course titled PFAS: Overview, Regulatory Setting & Future Considerations, which will be eligible for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits. The co urse will be offered at 11:00 AM June 22 and 11:00 AM June 24. Please contact Becky Kurtis at beckyk@st-ma.com with any questions and to register for the course.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals (including PFOA, PFOS and GenX) that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including the United States, since the 1940s. Due to the strength of their carbon-fluorine bonds, PFAS compounds are persistent in the environment and difficult to remediate. PFAS exposures and risks can result in regulatory concerns and active management at contaminated sites and surrounding areas.
This course will introduce PFAS chemistry, environmental sources and occurrence, environmental fate and transport, exposure, toxicology, and the course of regulatory developments at the federal and state levels. Specific learning objectives include:
- Identify the major classes of PFAS and those that you are most likely to encounter in the environment.
- Identify key sources of PFAS releases to the environment.
- Discuss both the history of PFAS production and use in the United States.
- Discuss and analyze PFAS regulatory developments, including both federal- and state-level actions.
- Identify human health exposure scenarios of human health outcomes regarding PFAS exposure.
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Development of Surface Water Derived - Groundwater Cleanup Standards |
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Many of you are likely aware of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund that held that contamination migrating through groundwater and discharging to a surface water body (known as point sources) are subject to the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations. That is, it is a violation of the CWA Sections 301 and 402 to discharge a pollutant into a navigable water from a point source without a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Prior to this ruling, only direct discharges to surface waters (like in the form of a pipe or sewer discharge) were subject to NPDES permits. Now, point sources in groundwater discharging to a surface water are subject to the same CWA regulations (however, there are some nuances affecting the ruling).
If you are concerned about how this might affect you, you need not worry.
SMA's technical experts have been helping their clients with NPDES-like CWA demonstrations in the form of “surface water derived, groundwater cleanup standards” for their sites for over 25 years. These demonstrations generally involve the determination of groundwater and contaminant discharges from a site and a compliance demonstration that is reliant on the receiving waters seven-day low flow with 10-year re-occurrence (7Q/10) like an NPDES permit. The applicability of these efforts has been enhanced recently through the work published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) including StreamsStats 4 and MODFLOW 6. The enhancements involve a broader ability to determine the 7Q/10 of receiving streams and enhancements to the groundwater flow model MODFLOW to allow calibrations to stream and groundwater flow.
If you are interested in checking StreamStats 4 out, please visit the USGS website.
For more information regarding SMA’s capabilities in this area and how we can assist you, please contact Ron St. John at (630) 427 8111 or rons@st-ma.com.
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SMA'S DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOPROBE -
MIP “HYBRID” SAMPLING SYSTEM
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SMA Prototyping First Commercially Available Tooling to Integrate HRSC with Soil and Groundwater Sampling |
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SMA is in the process of prototyping the first commercially available tooling in the industry to allow the simultaneous performance of both High-Resolution Site Characterization (HRSC) and traditional soil/groundwater sampling. The tooling, which is being referred to internally as a “Hybrid” sampling system, functions similarly to traditional dual-tube soil sampling systems, allowing for the collection of both continuous and depth-discrete soil samples. However, the system also contains an integrated sensor suite within the outer casing of the sampling tool string that allows for the collection of high-resolution data sets from different types of in-situ sensors, including: membrane interface probes, electrical conductivity sensors, laser-induced fluorescence tools, and hydraulic profiling tools.
Through its unique design, the “Hybrid” sampling system will bridge the gap between traditional soil/groundwater investigations and modern HRSC. The tooling will allow for the maximum amount of relevant environmental data to be collected over the course of a single investigation, thereby allowing for the cost-effective development of accurate, robust models of the nature and extent of soils and groundwater contamination.
Information regarding Terracon’s High-Resolution Site Characterization capabilities will be provided in SMA’s next quarterly newsletter.
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See how SMA is employing the use of drone technology to enhance its data collection capabilities! |
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Spotlight on Tom Marzec,
SMA Project Scientist
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Growing up in the Chicago suburbs with a forest preserve right around the corner, I’ve been interested in environmental issues for most of my life and have been working in the environmental industry for the past 12 years. At work I enjoy the problem- and puzzle-solving opportunities that my projects provide and appreciate that my work helps protect public health and the natural environment.
With a passion for traveling and exploring, I appreciate the work-life balance SMA provides. There is nothing I love more than being miles down a wilderness trail knowing I have only what’s in my head and my backpack to keep me going and get me to my goal.
My Top 5 best backpacking trips: Iceland, Glacier National Park, Buckskin Gulch (just this spring), Olympic Coast, and the west coast of Latvia (I have dual citizenship there – a home away from home).
Upcoming trips - South Sierra High Route (Google it!).
Animal Encounters: Bear (dozens), buffalo (12), Moose (10), rattlesnakes (6), bobcats (2).
Injuries (0).
Tom is a Project Scientist in SMA's Downers Grove Office and is involved in both the management and execution of field work associated with site investigations, remediation, and Phase I ESAs.
Please contact me today!
D (630) 427 8116 | M (630) 921 2148
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Thank you for your support! |
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