Theme: 10. Characterization, Fate and Transport

Topic Area: 10f. High-Resolution Site Characterization (HRSC)

Formatted Title:

Guidance and Best Practices for High Resolution Site Characterization at Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Release Sites

Background/Objectives:

The presentation will outline the guidance that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Oﬃce of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) has developed for using high resolution site characterization (HRSC) to assess petroleum underground storage tank (UST) releases at Indian Country sites. The presentation will include discussion of when HRSC is, and is not appropriate, project planning, managing the work in the field, and communicating results to stakeholders. This guidance builds on a previous study EPA conducted of practitioners, which found that HRSC provides excellent value at petroleum UST sites by rapidly determining the extent of the LNAPL, direction of dissolved phase plume movement, and permeability of soil strata in ﬁne detail. HRSC saved money on complex sites by reducing the number of monitoring wells required and improving the conceptual site model, which leads to more eﬀective remediation.

Approach/Activities:

The primary goals of EPA's guidance are to help project managers of petroleum UST releases to: 1) determine whether might be worthwhile for site assessment; 2) plan the HRSC project; and 3) manage the work in the field; and 4) communicate the results. The guidance was developed specifically for US EPA project managers for Indian Country sites, but it may have utility for project managers of sites outside Indian Country.

Results/Lessons Learned:

HRSC has much wider applicability to petroleum UST release sites than is currently used. Wider use of HRSC could help drive the 58,000 open petroleum UST remediation projects toward completion and provide a more productive assessments for future releases from the 175,000 currently active petroleum UST sites.

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Alex Wardle