Environmental Restoration: Part 3 - Project Plans and Procedures

In Environmental Restoration: Part 3 - Project Plans and Procedures, you'll learn ...

• Assigning a proper hazard level to field investigations at hazardous waste sites
• Defining appropriate measures to protect the field personnel
• Developing standardized procedures for field sampling
• Adhering to federal and state sampling protocols

Overview

Preview a portion of this course before purchasing it.

Credit: 3 PDH

Length: 41 pages

This course, Part 3, is the third in a series of six sequential courses, Parts 1 through 6, that present the history and steps taken to remediate the environmental hazards created by the land disposal of chemical and radioactive wastes on the campus of a research institute. The practice of shallow land burial of hazardous wastes was widely used throughout the US between the 1960s and the 1980s. However, since the late 1980s both federal and state legislations were promulgated requiring the environmental regulatory agencies throughout the US to investigate operating, decommissioned and abandoned landfills of all types having in mind the ultimate goal of mitigating the impacts these waste disposal sites have on the natural environment.

This series of courses, are written from the perspective of a Manager who leads a team charged with the implementation of an environmental Remedial Investigation (RI), Feasibility Study (FS) and Engineered Remediation (ER) of a hazardous waste disposal site. The courses draw from numerous environmental investigations managed by the author across the US. As such, the scenarios that are presented are similar to those a professional environmental engineering practitioner faces in real life.

The case that is developed here is used as an example and a vehicle to present and discuss concepts and project implementation strategies gained through years of experience. This information is not usually found or taught in traditional or standard academic courses dealing with environmental issues or investigations. In their entity this series of courses can be considered an implementation guide for conducting environmental investigations at hazardous waste disposal sites. The environmental problems in the example scenario are those encountered at a decommissioned hazardous and low-level radioactive waste disposal site owned by a research institute. The presentations are sequenced in the order in which investigations would be conducted by an environmental consulting firm contracted to perform and supervise the work that would be done in order to assess the magnitude of the problem and develop appropriate mitigation strategies for the rehabilitation of the site.

This course, Part 3: Project Plans and Procedures, briefly reviews the key points of the previous courses in the sequence, and presents the steps required in planning the new round of sampling and testing program for the site. The elements of the Health and Safety Plan (HASP) are presented, including the methodology to determine the hazard category of the site and the personal protective equipment requirement. The Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) is also discussed as it relates to following federal and state sampling protocols and ensuring data quality and proper documentation, including the concepts of chain-of-custody and use of duplicate samples and blanks to verify the quality of the laboratory procedures and results. A set of Project Procedures is then developed based on the technical needs of the site investigation and the requirements of the Health and Safety and Quality Assurance Plans.

The materials presented in this course can be used as a "blueprint" for addressing the elements of the Health and Safety and Quality Assurance Plans, and developing environmental sampling procedures applicable to hazardous waste investigations. The following plans and procedures are presented as part of this course:

• Management Plan
• Scope of Sampling Program
• Preparation of Sample Containers
• Equipment Decontamination
• Laboratory Cleaning Procedures
• Water Level and Well Depth Measurements
• Groundwater Sampling
• Surface Water Sampling
• Soil Sampling

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• Assigning a proper hazard level to field investigations at hazardous waste sites
• Defining appropriate measures to protect the field personnel
• Developing standardized procedures for field sampling
• Adhering to federal and state sampling protocols
• How to collect representative field samples for environmental testing
• How to develop a Quality Assurance Plan
• How to develop a Health and Safety Plan
• How to develop a Sampling and Testing Plan
• How to develop field sampling procedures
• How to develop laboratory testing procedures
• Understand the importance of using the proper chain-of-custody forms and duplicate samples to validate the results of laboratory analyses

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 20 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.