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Description
Cambridge Environmental offers a wealth of experience relevant to
vapor intrusion. In terms of exposure assessment, vapor intrusion
typically refers to the penetration (or risk of penetration) of vapors
from volatile contaminants present in soil and/or groundwater underneath
homes or other buildings. We have been including vapor intrusion
pathways in human health risk assessments since the early 1990s.
Many of these risk assessments involve chlorinated solvents (and their
breakdown products), for which remedial and occupational perspectives on
toxicology differ markedly. Cambridge Environmental staff members
have also presented and presented technical papers on various aspects of
vapor intrusion.
Selected Publications
- Estimating Risks Posed by Contaminated Soils: A
Comparison of Two Exposure Routes, Stephen Zemba and Matthew
Pilkington, poster presentation at the 6th National Conference on
Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils, Amherst, MA (1991), that demonstrates
that vapor intrusion can be a significant exposure pathway compared
with incidental soil ingestion, especially for dry soils that provide
less resistance to volatilization.
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Estimating the Impact of Source Depletion on
Long-Term Risk Assessments, paper by Steven Luis and Stephen
Zemba, in Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils, Volume III, E. Calabrese and
P. Kostecki, eds. (1993), that discusses the implications of finite
source strengths that can limit and reduce vapor emissions from soil
over time.
-
Screening Models for Estimating Vapor Infiltration to
Buildings, Edmund Crouch (2002), white paper on vapor intrusion
modeling, that discusses the merits and weaknesses of analytical
models of vapor transport in the soil vadose zone and identifies key
factors that influence vapor intrusion. -
Comments submitted on the Draft Report on
Carcinogens Background Document for Trichloroethylene, Timothy
Lash, Laura Green, and Steven Tannenbaum (2000), that discusses the
lack of human evidence for the potential carcinogenicity of
trichloroethylene (the endpoint that drives low risk-based
concentrations at vapor intrusion sites). -
Context-Based Benchmarks for Indoor Air
Evaluation, Stephen Zemba, slides from a presentation at the 2004
Contaminated Soils Conference, Amherst, explaining the difficulties in
distinguishing vapor intrusion from background air quality and
presenting the risk-based implications of background contaminants in
indoor air. -
Indoor Air Pathway: Risk Management and
Characterization Issues, Stephen Zemba, slides from a presentation
to the Massachusetts Licensed Site Professional Association (March 8,
2005), that discuss the theory and limitations of the Johnson and
Ettinger vapor intrusion model. -
Comments on the New York State Department
of Health’s Guidance for Evaluating Soil Vapor Intrusion in the State
of New York, Stephen Zemba and Laura Green (2005), that discuss
risk management and uncertainty implications associated with vapor
intrusion sampling.
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