Could you benefit from alternative environmental sampling techniques?

Using Alternative Sampling Techniques to Delineate Soil Vapor Impacts and Identify Potential Source Areas at Occupied Properties

Failure to accurately define the nature and extent of impacted soil and groundwater source media, or resulting mobile impacted media such as soil vapor, can result in budget overruns and schedule delays for site remediation and redevelopment projects. Based on access constraints, occupied properties are typically the most challenging to adequately investigate. Roux has a proven track record of utilizing a variety of conventional and alternative site characterization sampling techniques, including the deployment of passive hydrophobic chemical adsorbent soil vapor samplers. Employing this preliminary assessment technique helps to meet client objectives under challenging circumstances where the use of traditional vacuum-actuated vapor samplers may not be practical due to property access or operational constraints.

What are the benefits of using passive hydrophobic chemical adsorbent soil vapor samplers?
Passive chemical adsorbent soil vapor samplers can be installed completely beneath exterior ground surfaces or interior building slabs using common handheld tools, making them easy to retrieve later for laboratory analysis of target compounds such as volatile organics.

The hydrophobic adsorbents in these samplers have been extensively tested and proven to work well in high moisture or saturated soil conditions commonly encountered within occupied buildings.

One key advantage of using passive samplers is that no part of the setup remains exposed, where it could be vulnerable to accidental contact or damage from property operations. When compared to traditional vacuum-actuated samplers, passive chemical adsorbent samplers allow for data collection over longer durations and at a greater spatial density, that results in refined delineation of contaminated soil vapor. Furthermore, little to no waste in the form of soil cuttings is generated when installing a network of passive soil vapor samplers in contrast to traditional drilling techniques, which may produce large amounts of investigation-derived waste.

What can Roux do to help?
Roux’s team of qualified environmental professionals can thoroughly evaluate the passive soil vapor sampler data set and resulting soil vapor isopleth plots to identify potential areas of contaminated source media, which can then be assessed further via the collection of targeted soil, groundwater, and traditional soil vapor samples. Utilizing this methodology allows remedial engineers to evaluate the feasibility and cost effectiveness of remedial alternative approaches and provide tailored recommendations to clients and regulators more accurately.

Find out more about the benefits of employing alternative assessment and sampling techniques by contacting one of Roux’s technical experts via the link below.