Course Description:
This two-hour session consists of two one-hour presentations along with Question & Answer times. The first part entitled BWSC PFAS Updates and Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) Regulatory Considerations (#1901) is taught by John Ziegler, MassDEP’s BWSC Statewide PFAS Coordinator.
This course will provide updates regarding BWSC’s work on PFAS, discuss BWSC PFAS priorities, and review MCP requirements for assessing PFAS releases, including notification, immediate response actions (IRAs), imminent hazards (HIs), site investigation, and risk assessment. Ten minutes is reserved at the end for Q&A. Click here for a course outline.
The second part of the session entitled New England Regional Evaluation of Background PFAS Levels in Shallow Soils (#1892) is taught by Lisa Campe, MPH, LSP at Woodard & Curran.
Identifying background concentrations is an important part of environmental assessment for distinguishing regulated releases of contaminants to the environment from those related to natural and/or non-specific anthropogenic sources. For PFAS, it is important to understand the types and levels of PFAS in soil as a result of non-specific and/or unknown PFAS sources and migration pathways. State-wide studies have been conducted but no larger-scale regional studies have been conducted that extend beyond individual state lines.
This presentation will provide an overview, discuss the methodology, and present findings of a Woodard & Curran evaluation that looked at four New England, shallow soil studies, both comparatively and as a combined dataset. The combined dataset provides a regional perspective of PFAS distribution. A further study objective was to establish “background” concentrations for PFAS that typically are observed in shallow soils absent any clear, distinct source(s). The presentation will wrap up with a discussion of the implications of the study findings with respect to setting regulatory standards, and time for Questions & Answers. Click here for the presentation agenda.
