Category: Vapor Intrusion

Vapor Intrusion or Process Emissions – Help Me, Help You

Posted on by Alex Miller

Written by Stephen R. Henshaw, President & CEO, EnviroForensics

As seen in the August 2014 issue of Cleaner & Launderer

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I’ve talked a lot about vapor intrusion over the past few years. Vapor intrusion occurs when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in soil and groundwater off-gas and migrate into occupied buildings and store fronts. The need to conduct vapor intrusion sampling is often times the result of VOCs in the soil and groundwater. Typically a vapor intrusion assessment will include collecting sub-slab soil gas samples along with the collection of indoor air samples. This paired sampling, as it is often times referred to, is designed to show two things: 1) whether or not there is contamination in the subsurface soil gas sample that could create a vapor intrusion issue; and 2) whether or not there are concentrations of VOCs in the breathing air that could be attributable to the subsurface contamination.

I want to tell you this because if it is determined that vapor intrusion exists and VOCs are migrating from the subsurface into occupied building structures, you as the responsible party for the subsurface impacts, would also be responsible for mitigating those vapors. Additionally, the identification of a vapor intrusion issue in buildings not owned by you could lead to the potential for third party litigation should it be determined that people have been breathing contaminated air. Continue reading “Vapor Intrusion or Process Emissions – Help Me, Help You”

Vapor Intrusion – A Concern, but an Easy Fix

Posted on by Jeff Carnahan

Written by Stephen R. Henshaw, President and CEO of EnviroForensics & PolicyFind

As Seen in the January 2014 issue of the Cleaner & Launderer

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Those of you who have read my past articles, have heard me speak, or have ever looked at EnviroForensics’ website, know that we specialize in helping dry cleaners work through the regulatory and insurance maze of investigating and remediating soil and groundwater impacts caused by the release of percholoroethene (PCE).  The EnviroForensics team takes pride in helping to solve environmental problems for the dry cleaning industry; and over the past 18 years, we have helped more than 400 dry cleaners.

So much has changed since I started working with dry cleaners.  The laws and regulations enforced by the regulatory agencies, the cleanup technology, and the perceived human health exposure of vapors, known as vapor intrusion, are continually changing and evolving.   It seems that the only constants are that dry cleaners are targets and continue to be blamed when PCE is found in soil and groundwater. PCE is considered a risk to public health, contaminated soil and groundwater makes property transactions difficult to complete, and cleaning up PCE in soil and groundwater is expensive.  Oh, and old CGL insurance policies continue to be one of the saving graces for dry cleaners when faced with the daunting reality that they have been named as a party responsible for PCE contamination. Continue reading “Vapor Intrusion – A Concern, but an Easy Fix”

DEALING WITH THE PERCEPTION OF RISK; THE VALUE OF HAVING AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

Posted on by Jeff Carnahan

Written by Stephen Henshaw, P.G., President & CEO, EnviroForensics
As seen in the October 2013 issue of Cleaner and Launderer

Over the years, environmental regulations have gotten more and more restrictive.  The permissible levels of chlorinated solvents in groundwater, soil and indoor air continue to be pushed lower.  While the acceptable level of PCE in indoor air was actually increased by the federal government, the acceptable level of TCE (a breakdown product of PCE) was drastically lowered, which has resulted in an increase of Sites posing a public health risk.  It is the vapors, which contain volatile organic compounds from releases of cleaning solvents or gasoline, which is posing the greatest risk to people living or working near the Sites where the contaminants were released.  The regulatory requirement to evaluate the fate and distribution of these contaminated vapors into homes, apartments, schools, and businesses is raising the publics concern and could create the perception of risk and with those perceptions associated concerns and fears of health effects.

Continue reading “DEALING WITH THE PERCEPTION OF RISK; THE VALUE OF HAVING AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN”

VAPOR INTRUSION CAN POSE SIGNIFICANT LIABILITIES; TAKE STEPS TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES

Posted on by Jeff Carnahan

Written by Steve Henshaw, PG, President & CEO, EnviroForensics

As seen in the August 2013 issue of Cleaner & Launderer

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The field of vapor intrusion is far from being considered a sound science.  I want to tell you this because the stakes are very high when it comes to potential risks to human health from vapors comprised of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  The emerging field of vapor intrusion is not only rapidly evolving and the risk levels are continuing to shift and change, but also the potential liabilities associated with vapor intrusion exposure can be very expensive and could damage a company’s reputation.  When it comes to vapor intrusion exposure issues, you and your team of scientists and lawyers need to be in front of the problem, proactively dealing with results and developing a communication plan and strategy of ensuring that appropriate steps are being taken to protect people from risk and harm. Continue reading “VAPOR INTRUSION CAN POSE SIGNIFICANT LIABILITIES; TAKE STEPS TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES”

PREFERENTIAL PATHWAYS; UNDERGROUND PIPES AND UTILITY LINES CAN BE CONDUITS FOR THE MIGRATION OF CONTAMINANTS

Posted on by Jeff Carnahan

Written by Stephen R. Henshaw, P.G., President & CEO, EnviroForensics

As seen in the March 2013 issue of Cleaner & Launderer

PDF Version

You can imagine that if wastewater is discharged into a sewer line with cracks in it that the wastewater could contaminate the soil and groundwater.  After all, sewer pipes can be very old and made of a variety of material such as transite, clay, concrete, plastic, or steel.  Of course, leaks are not uncommon in sewer lines.  Sewer lines can crack or break, they can corrode, or the couplings, where pipes are fitted together, can leak and result in “point source” areas of contamination.  Sags and low points are common when a sewer line goes underneath streets and structures.  These low areas can result in sediment and dense chemical liquids pooling in these sag points, resulting in contamination source areas.  Sewer pipes can become blocked and clogged and result in backups that can create points of leakage. 

Historically speaking, sewer pipes were not designed to be leak proof.  The first sewers were essentially brick lined tunnels.  Later, short sections of clay pipes were coupled together to create long lengths of sewer.  The clay sections consisted of a male end and a female (bell) end and the lengths of clay pipe were coupled together.  Gaskets were hopefully placed in the bell end to minimize the leakage, but of course those gaskets would degrade over time.  Transite pipes and concrete pipes similarly had male and female ends and were coupled together.  Continue reading “PREFERENTIAL PATHWAYS; UNDERGROUND PIPES AND UTILITY LINES CAN BE CONDUITS FOR THE MIGRATION OF CONTAMINANTS”