New Field Test for Lead (Pb 2+) in Contaminated Soil
Ivars Jaunakais, B. A., Industrial Test Systems, Inc., Rock Hill, SC  
Maris Jaunakais, M. A., Industrial Test Systems, Inc., Rock Hill, SC  
Balaji Tatineni, Ph. D., Industrial Test Systems, Inc., Rock Hill, SC

Mineral Phase and Groundwater Chemistry Characterization to Assess Natural Attenuation of Dissolved Nickel in Groundwater
Matthew J. Hammer, P.G., Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., Akron, OH
Paul P. Gallagher, P.G., Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., Akron, OH 
Charles A. Crocetti, Ph.D., P.G., Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., Concord, NH

Contributions to Diet from Natural Sources to Urinary Cadmium Levels among Indigenous Women from the Torres Strait
Michael R. Moore, Melissa Haswell-Elkins, Victor McGrath, Soisungwan Satarug, Maria Walmby,  Jack C Ng , The University of Queensland , Queensland , Australia

Broadway Mercury Response
Alex Sherrin, On-Scene Coordinator, LSP, US EPA Region I New England, Boston, MA  

In Situ Chemical Reduction of Hexavalent Chromium and Nickel in a Saturated Silty Clay Matrix Using Calcium Polysulfide
Matthew Burns, WSP Environment & Energy, Boxborough, MA
Gigi Beaulieu, WSP Environment & Energy, Boxborough , MA  
Michael Brown, WSP Environment & Energy, Boxborough , MA
Derek Chase, Emerson, St. Louis, MO

Berry’s Creek: A Glance Backward and a Look Forward
Robert P. Blauvelt, EWMA, Parsippany, NJ  
Victoria Wright, EWMA, Parsippany, NJ  

New Field Test for Lead (Pb 2+) in Contaminated Soil
Ivars Jaunakais, B. A., Industrial Test Systems, Inc., 1875 Langston Street, Rock Hill, SC 29730,  Tel: 803-329-9712 ext 201, Fax: 803-329-9743, Email: Ivars@sensafe.com
Maris Jaunakais, M. A., Industrial Test Systems, Inc., 1875 Langston Street , Rock Hill , SC 29730 , Tel: 803-29-9712, Fax: 803-329-9743, Email: Mjaukusa@msn.com
Balaji Tatineni, Ph. D., Industrial Test Systems, Inc., 1875 Langston Street , Rock Hill , SC 29730 , 803-329-9712 ext 210, email Btatineni@sensafe.com  

Lead is a most troublesome environmental metal poison that has been responsible for large scale incidents of poisoning in spite of many preventive steps that have been taken by governmental agencies.  It was only reluctantly that government and industry accepted the dangers of Lead in the 1900’s and enacted new laws and regulations.  Field tests for Lead contamination in soil are not frequently performed, since the tests are either cumbersome to run or unreliable for screening determinations. LEADQuick test, which is a field test for Lead in water with 3 ug/L detection sensitivity, was modified to allow for Lead detection in soil with detection sensitivity as low as 0.03 ug of Lead.  Most Lead salt compounds are only slightly soluble in water (1 to100 milligrams per Liter); but an effective 5 minute extraction was accomplished with Nitric Acid and Potassium Nitrate solution.  Soil Lead levels are then accurately estimated with a five minute Lead Quick test method.  Extraction and test procedure details, soil testing results and the data about the interference ions and will confirm the potential application of LEADQuick field test kit for soil Lead monitoring.

Mineral Phase and Groundwater Chemistry Characterization to Assess Natural Attenuation of Dissolved Nickel in Groundwater
Matthew J. Hammer, P.G., Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., 150 N Miller Rd., Suite 300, Akron, OH 44333, USA, Tel: 330-864-5110, Fax: 330-864-5111, Email: mhammer@sanbornhead.com
Paul P. Gallagher, P.G., Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., 150 N Miller Rd., Suite 300, Akron, OH 44333, USA, Tel: 330-864-5110, Fax: 330-864-5111, Email: pgallagher@sanbornhead.com
Charles A. Crocetti, Ph.D., P.G., Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., 20 Foundry Street
Concord , NH 03301 , USA , Tel: 603-415-6121, Fax: 603-229-1919, Email: cacrocetti@sanbornhead.com

This investigation focuses on natural attenuation mechanisms for nickel and arsenic in groundwater. The primary source of nickel, and to a lesser extent arsenic, was acidic cold rinse water from former steel pickling operations that discharged to a former sanitary effluent pond for up to 50 years. The transport and fate mechanisms are evaluated by: characterization of the major anion/cation composition of groundwater, assessing historical contaminant migration rates (i.e., from observations regarding the extent of groundwater contamination and historical pumping rates at property water supply wells), reviewing literature on relevant attenuation/retardation factors to calculate contaminant migration rates, and obtaining property-specific data on soil characteristics from sequential extraction procedure (SEP)  analysis.  The SEP analysis uses multiple extraction solutions to evaluate the distribution of select major, minor and trace metals within the solid/mineral phases of the soil sample. By modeling the fate and transport of nickel in groundwater using both property‑specific and published partition coefficients, it was demonstrated that natural attenuation of nickel in groundwater resulted in a dissolved nickel velocity in groundwater of less than an inch per year away from the source area. This study determined that nickel migration could be effectively monitored in the future, and an active remedy to remove contamination or to control groundwater flow was unnecessary.

Contributions to Diet from Natural Sources to Urinary Cadmium Levels among Indigenous Women from the Torres Strait
Michael R. Moore, Melissa Haswell-Elkins, Victor McGrath, Soisungwan Satarug, Maria Walmby,  Jack C Ng, The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, 39 Kessels Rd, Coopers Plains, Queensland, Australia, and North Queensland Health Equalities Promotion Unit, School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands have been concerned about the safety of some of their traditional seafoods since the discovery of high cadmium levels in the liver and kidney of dugong and turtle in 1996. We have explored links between sources of cadmium such as the sea and sediments and urinary cadmium levels to pilot a community-based methodology to identify potential determinants of cadmium exposure and accumulation.

Consultations with Torres Strait Island leaders led to selection of one community for study from which 60 women aged 30 to 50 years participated in a health and food frequency survey, a routine health check and urine collection. Urinary cadmium levels were determined by ICP-MS and data were analysed using SPSS 14.

The geometric mean cadmium level in this group of women was 1.17  μg/g creatinine with one third exceeding 2.0 μg/g creatinine.  Heavy smoking (>300 pack years) was linked to higher cadmium in urine, as was increasing age and waist circumference. Analysis of variance models including age revealed significant associations (p<0.05) between cadmium level and higher consumption of turtle liver and kidney, clams (all gathered locally), peanuts, coconut, chocolate and potato chips. Multiple regression modeling revealed that 40% (adjusted r²) of variation in cadmium level could be explained by the sum of these food exposures plus heavy smoking, age and waist circumference.  No relationships between cadmium and total duration of pregnancy were found. 

We have shown by a relatively direct approach to exploring contributions of soil and sediment input to foods and other factors contributing to exposure to toxins at community level, the first direct evidence that frequent consumption of traditional foods, turtle liver kidney; wild clam and dugong liver is linked to increased accumulation of cadmium in the kidneys of Torres Strait Islander women.

Broadway Mercury Response
Alex Sherrin, On-Scene Coordinator, LSP, US EPA Region I New England, 1 Congress Street, (Mail Code HBR), Boston, MA 02114, Tel. 617-918-1252, Email: sherrin.alex@epa.gov

On November 9, 2007, Mass DEP and EPA responded to a report of beads resembling a “mercury like” substance on the street and the sidewalk directly in front of a house located on Broadway Street in Fall River , Massachusetts .  The house is a three story wood frame, built in the early 1900s.  The results of the air sampling revealed that elemental mercury and mercury vapors existed throughout the residence at levels exceeding the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) health based risk standard of 300 ng/m³.  The levels in the 1st floor ranged from 10,000 up to 50,000 ng/m³.  The 2nd floor levels ranged from 17,000 to 30,000 ng/m³.  The 3rd floor ranged from 15,000 to 16,000 ng/m³.  Further investigation revealed that the source of the mercury was electrical components stored in the basement of the house by a former tenant.  Air concentrations in the basement ranged from 12,000 to 50,000 ng/m³.

EPA conducted a Superfund Time Critical Removal Action at the site was able to reduce the mercury levels to the point where the ATSDR, Mass Department of Public Health, and the local Board of Health consented to re-habitation of the house.  This paper describes EPA’s investigation and cleanup of the mercury release and the lessons learned.

In Situ Chemical Reduction of Hexavalent Chromium and Nickel in a Saturated Silty Clay Matrix Using Calcium Polysulfide
Matthew Burns, WSP Environment & Energy, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue , Boxborough , MA   01719 ,  Tel: 978-635-9600, Fax: 978-264-0537, Email: matt.burns@wspgroup.com
Gigi Beaulieu, WSP Environment & Energy, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue , Boxborough , MA   01719 ,  Tel: 978-635-9600, Fax: 978-264-0537, Email: gigi.beaulieu@wspgroup.com 
Michael Brown, WSP Environment & Energy, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue , Boxborough , MA   01719 ,  Tel: 978-635-9600 ; Fax: 978-264-0537, Email: michael.brown@wspgroup.com
Derek Chase, Emerson, 800 West Florissant Avenue, P.O. Box 4100, St. Louis, MO 63136-8508 , Tel: 314-553-2767, Fax: 314-553-1365, Email: derek.chase@emrsn.com

Historic releases from metal plating sumps resulted in a 30,000-square foot hexavalent chromium and dissolved nickel plume at a central Georgia manufacturing facility.  Site characterization showed that the heavy metals were concentrated in a perched zone consisting of a hard, low plasticity, low permeability, silty clay 10 to 20 feet beneath the building foundation and also migrated to depths up to 50 feet in the underlying clayey sand aquifer.  Maximum detected concentrations in groundwater samples were 3,120 mg/l of hexavalent chromium and 32 mg/l of nickel.

Bench testing of several reducing agents identified calcium polysulfide (brand name Cascade®) as the best alternative for the site as it rapidly reduced hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium, it persisted in the soil/water matrix to a greater extent than the other reducing agents tested, and the resulting trivalent chromium precipitate was found to be stable across the range of pH values that can be expected in the environment.  Cascade delivery methods were also tested in the field.  Cascade application at pressures slightly above minimum breakout pressures using a progressive cavity pump (non-pulsating), equipped with throttle to vary pressure, was found to produce numerous small fractures in the clay and result in the most uniform distribution of the reducing agent.

Initially, approximately 300 temporary delivery points were installed with 10-foot spacing.  Later, 24 permanent injection wells were installed with 30-foot spacing to deliver additional reducing agent through the fracture network established during the initial injection.  Several rounds of injection, with a total of 40,000 gallons of Cascade, were required over a 2-year period, because of the high initial metal concentrations in the groundwater.

The in situ chemical reduction remediation achieved concentrations of hexavalent chromium of less than 0.1 mg/l and concentrations of nickel less than 0.3 mg/l throughout the site. Total costs were approximately $1,500,000, comparable to the costs estimated for installation and maintenance of a groundwater extraction and treatment system for 20 years.  The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has delisted the site, allowing beneficial use of the site much sooner that would have been achieved had other remediation technologies been used.

Berry’s Creek: A Glance Backward and a Look Forward
Robert P. Blauvelt, EWMA, 100 Misty Lane, Parsippany, NJ   07054, Tel: 973-560-1400 ext 168, Fax: 973-560-0400, Email: bob.blauvelt@ewma.com
Victoria Wright, EWMA, 100 Misty Lane, Parsippany, NJ 07054, Tel: 973-560-1400 ext 169, Fax: 973-560-0400, Email: victoria.wright@ewma.com

Berry ’s Creek is a tidal tributary in Bergen County , NJ between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers , which extends almost seven miles from its discharge into the Hackensack River upstream towards its origins just south of Teterboro Airport .  The approximately 15 square miles of the Berry’s Creek water shed (about 8% of the total Hackensack River watershed) includes numerous marshes, channels, wetlands, and drainage ditches that serve as habitat to hundreds of plant and animal species. Widely recognized as one of the keys to the sustained ecological viability of the Meadowlands, Berry ’s Creek and its associated canal also holds the distinction of being one of the most contaminated waterways in northeastern U.S.

In 1929 the Wood-Ridge Chemical Company opened its doors as a mercury reclamation and recovery center. This facility would process spent or off-spec fungicides, pesticides, batteries, thermometers, dental amalgams, and other mercury containing wastes and remove or recover the mercury for re-sale or reformulation into new products. By 1974, when operations at its 40-acre site ceased, the plant had changed owners and names several times and had discharged an estimated 270 tons of mercury into a 2,000 foot long stretch of Berry ’s Creek. At its peak operation, between two to four pounds of mercury were being released into Berry ’s Creek every day.

USEPA recently has completed its Framework Document for Berry ’s Creek, which attempts to establish the guidelines for the characterization and investigation of the mercury and other heavy metal contamination present in Berry ’s Creek sediments. Critical to the success and effectiveness of these upcoming characterization activities is an understanding of not only how the contaminants were released but also the most probable (and implementable) remedial alternatives available for the waterway. Our presentation provides both a historical perspective on the discharges into Berry ’s Creek and establishes an ecological construct in which to consider and carry out future cleanup actions.