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Laboratory, Field, and Analytical Procedures for Using Passive Sampling in the Evaluation of Contaminated Sediments: User's Manual
Citation:
Burgess, R. M., S. B. Kane Driscoll, A. Burton, P. M. Gschwend, U. Ghosh, D. Reible, S. Ahn, AND T. Thompson. Laboratory, Field, and Analytical Procedures for Using Passive Sampling in the Evaluation of Contaminated Sediments: User's Manual. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-16/357, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
This document is not intended to serve as a series of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for using passive samplers at contaminated sediment sites. Rather, the document seeks to provide users with the information needed to develop their own SOPs or similar procedures. To this end, along with the information provided in the document there are the names of passive sampling experts listed who can be contacted to answer specific questions about the laboratory, field and analytical procedures associated with passive sampling.
Description:
Regardless of the remedial technology invoked to address contaminated sediments in the environment, there is a critical need to have tools for assessing the effectiveness of the remedy. In the past, these tools have included chemical and biomonitoring of the water column and sediments, toxicity testing and bioaccumulation studies performed on site sediments, and application of partitioning, transport and fate modeling. All of these tools served as lines of evidence for making informed environmental management decisions at contaminated sediment sites. In the last ten years, a new tool for assessing remedial effectiveness has gained a great deal of attention. Passive sampling offers a tool capable of measuring the freely dissolved concentration (Cfree) of legacy contaminants in water and sediments. In addition to assessing the effectiveness of the remedy, passive sampling can be applied for a variety of other contaminated sediments site purposes involved with performing the preliminary assessment and site inspection, conducting the remedial investigation and feasibility study, preparing the remedial design, and assessing the potential for contaminant bioaccumulation. While there is a distinct need for using passive sampling at contaminated sediments sites and several previous documents and research articles have discussed various aspects of passive sampling, there has not been definitive guidance on the laboratory, field and analytical procedures for using passive sampling at contaminated sediment sites. This document is intended to provide users of passive sampling with the guidance necessary to apply the technology to evaluate contaminated sediments. The contaminants discussed in the document include primarily polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the metals cadmium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc. Other contaminants including chlorinated pesticides and dioxins and furans are also discussed. The document is divided into ten sections each discussing aspects of passive sampling including the different types of samplers used most commonly in the United States, the selection and use of performance reference compounds (PRCs), the extraction and instrumental analysis of passive samplers, data analysis and quality assurance/quality control, and an extensive list of passive sampling related references. In addition, the document has a set of appendices which discuss facets of passive sampling in greater detail than possible in the main document. More specifically, included in the appendices is an example quality assurance project plan (QAPP). This information is intended to provide a sound foundations for passive sampler users to apply this technology.
URLs/Downloads:
Reconciliation Memo and Response (PDF, NA pp, 712 KB, about PDF)User's Manual Draft (PDF, NA pp, 16095 KB, about PDF)
Appendix to User's Manual (PDF, NA pp, 4852 KB, about PDF)
Reviewers 5&6 Reference (PDF, NA pp, 2054 KB, about PDF)
Reviewers 5&6 (PDF, NA pp, 171 KB, about PDF)
Reviewer 4 (PDF, NA pp, 143 KB, about PDF)
Reviewer 3 (PDF, NA pp, 106 KB, about PDF)
Reviewer 2 Reference B (PDF, NA pp, 302 KB, about PDF)
Reviewer 2 Reference A (PDF, NA pp, 1906 KB, about PDF)
Reviewer 2 (PDF, NA pp, 338 KB, about PDF)
Reviewer 1 (PDF, NA pp, 152 KB, about PDF)
Charge Questions (PDF, NA pp, 87 KB, about PDF)
User's Manual Revised (PDF, NA pp, 4909 KB, about PDF)
Peer Review Plan (PDF, NA pp, 33 KB, about PDF)
Final Reviewers (PDF, NA pp, 406 KB, about PDF)
Laboratory, Field, and Analytical Procedures for Using Passive Sampling in the Evaluation of Contaminated Sediments: User's Manual