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This technical summary report provides a review of the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development’s (ORD) laboratory studies that evaluated the efficacy of decontamination techniques to neutralize ricin on a variety of different surfaces. The tests referenced in this summa...

This subproduct contains text and pictures for an update/extension of the EPA Emergency Response Research's Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) webpage (https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response-research/analysis-coastal-operational-resiliency). It describes the wide...

Report on the Wide Area Demonstration (WAD) under the Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) project. The AnCOR WAD was conducted from May 2 through May 27, 2022. The test venue was located at Fort A.P. Hill (FAPH), Bowling Green, VA. All work will was conducted at F...

This study examines the current literature on aerial photography, remote sensing, and ground-based sensor use for estimating waste and debris volume. While there is a growing body of research in this area, the application of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) remote sensing in post-di...

This study characterized Bacillus globigii (BG) as a Bacillus anthracis Sterne (BAS) surrogate for wastewater treatment-related studies of UV inactivation, adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC), and bioaerosol emission. The inactivation of BG was faster than that of BAS...

This report highlights the importance of effective data management in disaster response, specifically focusing on environmental sampling. In today's data-driven world, data management is crucial for decision-making, coordination, and systems thinking in disaster scenarios. Effici...

An intentional and nefarious attack or unintentional release of a chemical warfare agent (CWA) is expected to trigger a significant effort to clean up a contaminated area. Such effort becomes more complex when considering the permeability of common indoor building materials to so...

This report summarizes the results of infrastructure decontamination experiments performed at the WSTB.  These experiments focused on simulating contamination of drinking water distribution pipes with a commonly available insecticide formulation containing malathion.  M...

Large-scale biological contamination incidents pose unique yet significant challenges to remediation operations. Previous incidents have demonstrated the utility of readily available commercial and municipal equipment for conducting remediation tasks. Pre-identification and evalu...

This report summarizes novel air sampling research conducted for the multi-agency Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) program which sought to develop and demonstrate capabilities and strategic guidelines to prepare the US for a wide-area release of a biological ag...

A release of a chemical warfare agent (CWA) will create an acute and significant exposure risk to the public as well as remediation contractors who would be tasked to cleanup a contaminated site. It would require decontamination of the contaminated area which may hold sensitive e...

In the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, and/or nuclear (CBRN) wide-area incident, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for environmental remediation, waste disposal processes, data collection, and data quality checks to advise decision-makin...

Field-level exercises with the purpose to assess remediation following the deliberate release of a highly toxic chemical in an indoor environment can be conducted using low(er) toxicity simulants if they are closely linked to the behavior of the toxic chemical itself. Experimenta...

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of steam heat for inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 when applied to materials common in mass transit installations. Methods and Results: SARS CoV-2 (USA-WA1/2020) was resuspended in either cell culture media or synthetic sali...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) can be accidentally backflushed into drinking water systems during firefighting operations or at industrial facilities.  If this contaminated water enters household plumbing systems, homeowners may n...

The Water Security Test Bed (WSTB) is a full-scale representation of a drinking water distribution pipe that conveys potable water. It is the product of a partnership between Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Currently, the syste...

The timely decontamination of high-density urban areas is critical in the face of a terror event involving radioactive cesium (Cs), which has a 30- year half-life with an energetic 662 keV gamma ray released during decay. This technical brief is intended for local, state and fede...

Bacillus anthracis and other environmentally persistent pathogens pose a significant threat to human and environmental health. If contamination is spread over a wide area (e.g., resulting from a bioterrorism or biowarfare incident), readily deployable and scalable sample collecti...

This paper compared simulation results from different model constructions of a Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) after radiological contamination from a hypothetical dirty bomb scenario. The model constructions included a utility-provided combined sewer stormwater model, a high...

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised interest in using chemical air treatments as part of a strategy to reduce the risk of disease transmission, but more information is needed to characterize their efficacy at scales translatable to applied settings and to develop methods for evaluat...

The project team evaluated the device at multiple wavelengths to assess optimal performance under specific conditions for select contaminants and a suite of contaminants.  This collaboration focused on the following:  - Reactor optimization and flow scale-up,  - Mo...

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised awareness in the spread of disease via airborne transmission. As a result, there has been increasing interest in technologies that claim to reduce concentrations of airborne pathogens in indoor environments. The efficacy of many of these emerging ...

The purpose of this research was to determine the viability of installing low-cost storm sewer retrofit devices in multiple locations within an urban watershed.  A major component of this was the necessity for designing, fabricating, and operation of such retrofits which are not ...

EPA’s Homeland Security Research Program conducts decontamination efficacy studies that identify technologies that can be used to clean surfaces, materials, or objects contaminated with chemical, biological, or radiological agents. This project consisted of an assessment of the m...

This study examined the washoff of Bacillus globigii (Bg) spores from concrete, asphalt, and grass surfaces by stormwater.  Bg is a nonpathogenic surrogate for Bacillus anthracis, which is a biological select agent. Areas (2.74 m x 7.62 m) of concrete, grass, and asphalt were ino...