Text Box: In the Winter 2009 newsletter we reported that volatile organic compounds (VOC) had been detected in Green Pond Brook (GPB) in the vicinity of the permeable reactive barrier (PRB) that is a component of the remedy for Area D groundwater contamination migrating to that brook. Relatively high VOC concentrations were detected in one of the wells downgradient of the PRB coincident with the detection of VOCs exceeding surface-water quality criteria in the brook near the PRB. In the August 2008 sampling event trichloroethene (TCE) was detected at a concentration of 1,550 (ug/L) micrograms per liter in Well D-PRB-06. In the May 2009 “2008 Annual Monitoring Report – Area D Groundwater” Arcadis characterized this detection as “anomalous” and reported that a TCE concentration of 20.8 ug/L was detected in the November 2008 sample from the same well. Specifically, Mr. Llewellyn of Arcadis explained that there was one anomalous round of data in August: an elevated concentration of 1550 ppb of TCE was detected in a downgradient well and that TCE was also detected in an upgradient well at an order of magnitude less. No explanation, such as a laboratory error or cross-contamination from sampling, has as of yet been provided for the anomaly. It is unclear whether laboratory data was validated to determine whether that may have been a source of the “anomaly.”

POINTS OF INTEREST:   

· The last RAB meeting was held on Thursday, March 26th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rockaway, New Jersey.  Minutes of the meeting were distributed to all RAB members for comment.

· The next RAB meeting will be held on Thursday, June 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rockaway, New Jersey.  The meeting will begin at 6:30pm and its expected to continue to approximately 8:30 pm.  Members of the public are invited to attend.

· The last technical team meeting was held on April 8, 2009 with representatives of Picatinny, USEPA, the NJDEP, US Army Corps of Engineers, and USAEC.

Soil manage࡭ent

2

Mid-Valley MNA TIMEFRAME

2

Sampling technique

3

AMOUNTS of SampleS

3

Area d voc anomalies

4

Mid-valley aeration

5

Green Tech / training

5

Rab / 600 hill

6

DRMO  REMOVAL  ACTION

7

AREA B  INJECTION  &  CNN

7

Area c rod

8

New personnel

9

RDX & TNT — pica 079

10

EPA Changes Pending

11

Text Box: The Picatinny Arsenal Environmental Restoration Advisory Board’s TAPP Contractor presents

Spring 2009

Volume 7, issue    2

Text Box: Environmental Happenings At Picatinny Arsenal Text Box: IN THE FIELD….. Text Box: Recent field activities for December 2008 through April 2009 included the following: Site 20/24, Area B (PICA 205): Molasses injection. (December 2008, February 2009) Groundwater sampling. (January, March) Text Box: Groundwater sampling; installation and sampling of passive diffusion bags* [PDBs]. Well inspections. (March) Area D (PICA 076): Sampling of PDBs and low-flow groundwater sampling. (March) Measurement of water levels; well inspections. (March)

CONT’D ON P. 9

ANOMALOUS RESULTS AT AREA D

Text Box: Editorial Reviewers David Forti, Michael Glaab, Courtenay Huff Technical Advisors Ted Gabel, William Roach, Gregory Zalaskus

Groundwater sampling of

 
Image of Male examining Sample Text Box: Although, Mr. Llewellyn did not cite a certain explanation for the anomalous sampling results at the March RAB meeting he did describe and discuss the situation. He responded to several inquiries from RAB members with seeming candor and he then noted that TCE had not been detected in these wells previously. In the same sampling event as the “anomalous” detection, vinyl chloride (a breakdown product of TCE under certain conditions) was also detected at a concentration of 19.2 ug/L in a downgradient surface-water sample (D-SW-4) – several orders of magnitude over the surface water criterion of 0.083 ug/L for vinyl chloride. But vinyl chloride had not been detected at that location in the November 2008 sampling event. Mr. Llewellyn stated during the RAB meeting that there was no evidence of vinyl chloride having migrated through the PRB into the brook.

CONT’D ON P. 4

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Accordingly Mr. Llewellyn advised that expanded sampling had been conducted in November to collect samples from the same areas. Analysis of the November sampling results