Washington State Dept of Ecology Seeks Public Comment: Vapor Intrusion Guidance
Request for Comment
The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) Toxics Cleanup Program is seeking comments on a Draft Guidance for Evaluating Soil Vapor Intrusion in Washington State: Investigation and Remedial Action, available here.
Background
This technical guidance is intended to help responsible parties, environmental professionals, and Ecology site managers assess vapor intrusion (VI) at cleanup sites in Washington.
Vapor intrusion refers to the vapor-phase migration of volatile organic and/or inorganic compounds into occupied buildings from underlying contaminated groundwater or soil. These substances may contaminate indoor air and impact human health. The Ecology technical guidance document provides techniques for evaluating whether VI has the potential to contaminate indoor air and recommends ways to protect building occupants.
This draft guidance includes the following components:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: How to conduct a preliminary assessment to determine areas and buildings potentially affected
by vapor intrusion
Chapter 3: How to further assess the areas and buildings identified by the preliminary assessment
Chapter 4: Interacting with the affected public
Chapter 5: Vapor intrusion mitigation techniques
Chapter 6: Deriving protective subsurface concentrations and evaluating the need for institutional controls
Chapter 7: References
Appendix A: Terminology
Appendix B: Shallow groundwater and soil gas screening levels that protect indoor air
Appendix C: Soil gas sampling
Appendix D: Using the Johnson and Ettinger Model during vapor intrusion assessments
Appendix E: Estimating the contribution of vapor intrusion to indoor air using soil gas and indoor air
measurement data
Comments
The comment period runs from October 16, 2009, through November 30, 2009. All comments received by 5 p.m. on November 30, 2009 will be considered when the final version of the guidance document is prepared. Ecology will issue a general responsiveness summary that describes the issues identified by reviewers and explains the changes to the draft document made in response to comments.
Comments can be submitted by e-mail to martha.hankins@ecy.wa.gov. Please include "VI Guidance" in the subject line. Comments should be organized as follows:
Date
Your name
Representing
Contact information (mailing address, e-mail, phone number)
Topic/Chapter/Section/Page you are commenting on
Comments and supporting information
More detailed information on the type of comments Ecology is seeking is available here.
Questions
If you have questions about the draft document or the commenting process, please contact Ed Jones at ed.jones@ecy.wa.gov or (425) 649-4449. If you have comments about the MTCA cleanup regulation update, please contact Martha Hankins at martha.hankins@ecy.wa.gov or (360) 407-6864.