Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
for environmental data acquisition. New concepts, for example, in contaminated site
assessment are the following:
-
Tiered assessment (endless variability in the number of tiers and the content of the
tiers);
-
In situ
and on-site assessment;
-
Integrated assessment using the combination of mathematical, physico-chemical,
biological, ecological models or field assessment for the characterization of the
environment;
-
Standardized site characterization or problem-specific tailored characterization.
A new assessment concept presents new data need and a new data acquisition
strategy. A good example is the TRIAD approach developed by US EPA (Crumbling,
2004; EPA TRIAD, 2013) which uses
in situ
data acquisition and decision making for
assessing contaminated environment, trying to deduct information from the measured
data immediately after obtaining and processing them and use the outcome for the next
step of the assessment. Such a new concept needs new equipment which can acquire
data
in situ
, in real time or on the site. Information is needed not only about the surface
of a contaminated area but also in the depths, and not only physical and chemical
information but also biological effect data. A new generation of
in situ
assessment and
monitoring methods is being developed (see also Volume 3) and can be used to make
environmental surveys more efficient.
The evaluation of acquired data on uncertainties, including their type and nature
and finding the most appropriate statistical evaluation methodology represent steps
increasingly recognized in environmental problem and site characterization. The site
characterization and monitoring tool box should be determined by the objective of the
assessment, and it should fulfill data requirements of the decision making procedure.
Uncertainties may have a wider scope than the assessment itself, i.e. involving global
meteorological or climatic uncertainties.
6 EFFICIENT CHARACTERIZATION OF CONTAMINATED LAND
What was most missed about 10 years ago was robust, low-cost, rapid, on-site mea-
surements; on-site and
in situ
screening technologies; sensors capable of measuring
actual risk levels and methods for monitoring
in situ
environmental remediation,
including monitoring natural attenuation and ecological processes and technologies
based on them.
Today, an experienced professional in this field would add a number of further
requirements, e.g., methods which can monitor long-term environmental changes,
measure very small concentrations, long-term adverse effects and effects not pro-
portional to the concentration or dose of the contaminant and include only those
methods and equipment which have been adequately demonstrated. One would enlist
the problem- or site-adapted assessment concepts, the integration of contaminated site
characterization and site remediation, and uniformed tool batteries for the typical envi-
ronmental problems. Also, decision-support tools for the selection of the best fitting
tool battery and the methods within the tool battery are needed. Should an ecological
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