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Solvent-Contaminated Groundwater
Remediation at a U.S. Army Research and Development
Facility
For more than 10 years, ICF International has worked
at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center Superfund
Site in Massachusetts, providing a broad range
of services investigating and remediating groundwater
contaminated with chlorinated solvents. ICF International
performed the Remedial Investigation, which involved
the use of innovative field screening techniques
to evaluate the nature and extent of groundwater
contamination. We evaluated the quality and quantity
of the facilities water supply; conducted extensive
slug and aquifer pump testing; performed groundwater
modeling; prepared aquifer-lake interaction studies;
evaluated and reviewed wellhead delineation;
performed impact analyses; and conducted independent
monitoring. In conjunction with the U.S. Geological
Survey, we supported a water interaction study
that used radioisotope ratios to determine the
percentage of lake water contribution to nearby
public water supply wells.
We prepared the Feasibility Study, Proposed
Plan, and Record of Decision, and designed and
constructed a full-scale groundwater extraction
and treatment system to contain and clean up
the contaminated ground water. Our hydrogeologic
monitoring allowed the Army to integrate environmental
considerations into its site master plan, and
provide scientifically defensible data to use
in its negotiations with the town of Natick.
The remedy includes the cleanup of groundwater
via air stripping and carbon adsorption, monitored
natural attenuation (MNA), long-term groundwater
monitoring, and institutional controls. We continue
to evaluate and optimize the effectiveness of
the cleanup with the aid of a three-dimensional
groundwater flow and contaminant transport model.
Remedial Investigation and
Planning for a Major Oil Refinery
ICF International planned and implemented a $4MM
full-scale remedial investigation at a 1,300-acre
petroleum refinery and chemicals manufacturing
facility located in northern New Jersey. The site
included petroleum tank farms, chemical process
units, a marine terminal, and solid waste management
areas. Our work included groundwater flow evaluation
and modeling, contaminant transport analysis,
monitoring well installation and sampling, creek
and wetland sampling and analysis, and sampling
and evaluation of contaminants in soil and ecological
risk assessment.
This site involved complex technical issues and
a high level of regulatory scrutiny. The keys
to ICF International's successful completion of this
project were:
- effectively implementing the environmental
information management system
- using early remedial planning and risk evaluation
to focus field investigation activities
- maintaining a high level of quality assurance/quality
control
- efficiently coordinating all logistical and
technical aspects of the project
Deterministic and Probabilistic
Risk Assessment of PCB-Contaminated Lake Sediments
ICF International is performing an extensive ecological
risk assessment on PCB-contaminated lake sediments
at a Superfund site in eastern Massachusetts.
The tiered risk assessment approach has involved
sampling of lake sediments, benthic and fish tissue,
chemical analyses and toxicity testing, benthic
macroinvertebrate surveys, and wildlife surveys.
The collected sediment and tissue data are being
used to support a food chain model to estimate
potential ecological risks to higher-level mammalian
and avian receptors. Deterministic and advanced
probabilistic ecological risk assessments are
being performed to evaluate ecological risks and
to develop preliminary sediment remediation goals.
RCRA Investigations in Karst
Terrain
Since 1994 ICF International has performed a series
of tasks in support of Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) permits at Fort Campbell,
a 124-square-mile active U.S. Army facility in
Kentucky. Investigations in this complex karst
terrain have included RCRA Facility Investigations
and risk assessments at 24 Solid Waste Management
Units (SWMUs), a SWMU Assessment of 12 newly identified
sites, and a sitewide hydrogeologic evaluation
to assess the potential impacts of the SWMUs on
the on-site drinking water source.
ICF International performed an evaluation and selection
of remedial actions for a large jet fuel release
and the subsequent pilot testing of a soil vapor
extraction system. We are a key member of the
restoration team providing program level support
including regulator negotiations, community relations,
data management, data integration and interpretation,
testing of innovative investigation and remediation
techniques, and development of assessment and
restoration strategies. We instituted the annual
Fort Campbell Karst Symposium where nationally
recognized karst experts meet with regulators
and Fort Campbell investigators to assess the
progress and approach of karst groundwater investigations.
Fort Campbell was the winner of the Secretary
of the Army Cleanup Award in 1999 and was cited
for best practices in three areas of environmental
restoration by the U.S. Department of Defense
in March 2000.
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Remedial Activities at a Transportation
Department Maintenance Facility in California
Since the early 1990s, ICF International has provided
remedial activities at multiple locations of an
active bus maintenance facility for a municipality
in southern California. Our program has provided
the client with realistic and cost-effective assessment
and remedial measures to address soil and groundwater
impacted with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE),
diesel fuel, hydraulic oil, and chlorinated compounds.
We have designed, constructed, and operated combined
bioventing/groundwater recovery systems to remediate
vadose zone soils, remove free-phase petroleum
products, and provide hydraulic control.
Base Realignment and Closure
(BRAC) Support
Under the Community Environmental Response Facilitation
Act (CERFA)—legislation designed to categorize
military properties for rapid reuse—ICF International
supported efforts at five bases. As a pilot team
for the U.S. Army, we developed an approach for
the first bases in the BRAC process. We developed
the design standards for the GIS outputs to be
used in the planning process. We were tasked to
identify and evaluate parcels that were clean,
clean with qualifiers, disqualified (contaminated
with hazardous or radioactive wastes), and excluded
(excessed to other federal agencies). We performed
extensive surveys related to past uses and disposal
activities, reviews of historic and archaeological
value, and compliance with other laws relating
to discharges. Two of our sites (Fort Ord, California,
and Fort Devens, Massachusetts) were the first
successfully closed and redeveloped bases in the
U.S. Army. To date nearly 3,000 new jobs have
been created at Fort Devens since our CERFA program
was initiated.
International Restoration
Program Development and Support in Belarus
For more than two years, ICF International trained
hundreds of Belarussian officials in the former
Soviet Union as part of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative
Threat Reduction Program. This $7.7M program included
technical hands-on and classroom training sessions,
academic sabbaticals, international conferences,
and government-to-government delegation exchanges
on topics ranging from how to drill a monitoring
well to establishing national environmental policies.
We provided on-site investigation and engineering
services at one of the former rocket bases and
remediated thousands of tons of contaminated materials.
This program facilitated the removal of 81 ICBM
nuclear warheads from the Republic of Belarus.
Former Ordnance Disposal Site
Closure
ICF International is currently completing a remediation
investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) and
a munitions and explosives of concern (MEC)
investigation at a Formerly Used Defense Site
(FUDS) site located in a state
park in Massachusetts. This work is being completed
under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—New
England District, under the technical direction
of the Baltimore District Ordnance and Explosives
(OE) Center of Excellence. We are completing
the investigation to meet the requirements of
the new FUDS guidance and the Massachusetts Contingency
Plan (MCP). Our work includes delineating the
nature and extent of explosive compounds and
degradation products in groundwater and soil,
and developing risk-based guidelines to complete
human health and ecological risk evaluations.
As part of this project, we prepared a request
to sample for perchlorate at the site, and gained
approval from the Office of Counsel and U.S.
Department of Defense (DOD) technical leads.
As part of this request, we developed a stringent
quality assurance (QA) program for sampling and
analysis of perchlorate in soil and groundwater.
We are also conducting a Geophysical Proveout,
Geophysical Investigation, Target Acquisition,
and MEC removal and demolition. We will be developing
a Proposed Plan and Record of Decision (ROD)
for the site, in concert with developing and
running an ongoing Public Information Program.
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