Live Training
Developing Representative Sediment Background Concentrations
Price:
$499
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About the Course
The course covers ASTM E3242 Standard Guide for Determination of Representative Sediment Background Concentrations, with supporting elements from guide E3164 Standard Guide for Sediment Corrective Action – Monitoring, Standard Guide for Selection of Background Reference Areas for Determination of Representative Background Concentrations (in final balloting process), and Standard Guide for Understanding Important Factors (or Considerations) Used for Determining Representative Sediment Background Concentrations for Corrective Action Decision Making (in development). The course covers the importance of background in corrective measures and educate the attendees on methods to derive a technically defensible sediment background following sound scientific practices.
The course will address the overall process of deriving background and walk through the following topics in depth, using case studies to engage the attendees. These topics include:
- Statistical considerations in selecting, collecting, and evaluating background data sets;
- Chemical and geochemical considerations relevant to developing background concentrations; and
- How to select background reference areas.
Case studies will illustrate how to apply these approaches.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:
- Explain the importance of sediment background for sediment corrective measures, and describe the meaning of “representative” in the background context
- Identify data needs for evaluating background concentrations at a sediment site
- Extract background data from existing site data sets, and determine when it is appropriate to do so
- Evaluate statistical outliers to determine whether they should be retained in, or excluded from, a candidate background data set
- Apply chemical and geochemical evaluations in evaluating site and background data sets, including graphical approaches for evaluating data
- Determine appropriate candidate background reference areas for a contaminated sediment site
- Present and explain data analysis for use in reporting
- Apply the process shown in Figure 1 of Guide E3242 with sediment site data
- Identify appropriate subject matter experts to involve at each step
Who Should Attend
This course is intended for various parties involved in sediment corrective action programs, including government employees involved in regulatory programs, environmental consultants, toxicologists, risk assessors, site remediation professionals, environmental contractors, and other stakeholders.
Course Outline
This course covers:
- Importance of Representative Background
- Overview of Process
- Geochemical and Chemical Considerations
- Collection of Data
- Extraction of Representative Data
- Data Visualization
- Evaluation of Outliers
- Geochemical Evaluations
- Identifying Representative Data Set
- Computation of Representative Background Concentration Values
- Case Study: Selecting Representative Background Areas
- Case Study: Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
- Case Study: Metals
- Further Reading
Fee Includes
- Referenced ASTM standards (available during the live course);
- Digital course notebook
This course also includes access to two free ASTM course:
ASTM Standards Referenced
- E3242 Standard Guide for Determination of Representative Sediment Background Concentrations
- E3164 Standard Guide for Sediment Corrective Action – Monitoring
- Standard Guide for Selection of Background Reference Areas for Determination of Representative Background Concentrations (in final balloting
- Standard Guide for Understanding Important Factors (or Considerations) Used for Determining Representative Sediment Background Concentrations for Corrective Action Decision Making (in development)
About the Instructors
Allison Geiselbrecht is a Principal with a focus on technically challenging project management and analyses. She manages complex RI/FSs and remedial design projects, including Western Port Angeles Harbor in Port Angeles, River Mile 3.5 East Remedial Design in Portland Harbor, NPDES and Clean Water Act-related services, and several confidential allocation projects. She has authored many publications and presentations and has served as a testifying and non-testifying expert in litigation.
Eric Litman has 20 years of experience in the field of environmental science, with a specialization in applied environmental chemistry. Since 2010 he has been a consulting scientist at NewFields working in support of industrial clients, state agencies and the federal government. During this time, he has conducted environmental site investigations focused on the characterization of chemical contaminants in support of natural resource damage assessments (NRDA), CERCLA investigations and the development of cost allocation strategies. From 2010 to 2015 he served as a laboratory program manager for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill NRDA with a focus on data usability and laboratory management. He has worked in a variety of laboratory settings as both an analytical chemist specializing in hydrocarbon chemistry and as a laboratory manager. His research interests include the history of industrial chemistry and the development of novel laboratory methods that can be used to characterize emerging contaminants. Mr. Litman is currently working on the development of a new method to characterize polar metabolites formed through the degradation of petroleum. Mr. Litman holds a B.S. in environmental chemistry from Norwich University and an M.S. in Marine and Environmental Science from Northeastern University.
Dr. Leyla Shams is an Environmental Scientist working with NewFields statistics team as a data analyst. She conducts data/statistical analysis in various environmental, biological, ecological studies and works on projects that involve background determination in soil and sediment, trend analysis, contamination assessment and damage valuation. She has a PhD in Environmental and Marine Sciences from Plymouth University in the United Kingdom and has authored and co-authored seven publications. She is a recipient of three ASTM Distinguished Service awards.
How Learning Will Be Assessed
Learning will be assessed through discussions.