Conducting Subsurface Environmental Investigations in Urban Watersheds - Urban Watersheds: Geology, Contamination, and Sustainable Development - page 122

• Underground storage tanks
• Chemical storage areas
• Back doors
• The “back 40,” meaning the rear of a property
• Signage
• Storage sheds
• Refuse storage and containers
• Special labeling
• Evidence of fill or mounding
• Recent excavations or land disturbance
• Depressions in land surface
• General topography
• Wetlands
• Mold
• Animal droppings
• Insects
• Pits
• Trenches
• Floor and roof drains
• Broken concrete
• Areas not inspected or inaccessible
• Weather conditions
• Recent precipitation events
• Nearest water body
• On-site and off-site drainage patterns
• On-site or off-site evidence of wells or borings
• Potential asbestos-containing materials
• Potential septic systems
• Utilities
• On-site or off-site dumping
• Off-site inspection
• Soil type(s)
• Potential contaminant migration pathways
• Potential ecological and human receptor pathways
Once the environmental professional has completed the data collection and site inspec-
tion portion of the Phase I ESA, an evaluation of whether there is evidence of an existing
release, a past release, or a material threat of a release of any hazardous substance or petro-
leum is made. If a product was released and then migrated into structures on the property
or into the ground, groundwater, or surface water of the property, then this situation is
termed a Recognized Environmental Condition (REC) .