exam 1

Question 1

What is the role of the Legislative branch in environmental laws?

Answer 1

The Legislative branch makes environmental laws.

Question 2

What is the role of the Judicial branch in environmental laws?

Answer 2

The Judicial branch resolves legal challenges to environmental laws.

Question 3

What is the role of the Executive branch in environmental laws?

Answer 3

The Executive branch administers environmental laws through regulations, such as the EPA.

Question 4

What is a Law?

Answer 4

A Law is made by Congress, passed by the House and Senate, and signed by the president. It has limited scientific input and public participation through the political process.

Question 5

What is a Regulation?

Answer 5

A Regulation is made by Agencies, involves robust scientific input, and has a formal public participation process.

Question 6

What is a Policy?

Answer 6

A Policy is made by Agencies and often clarifies how the agency interprets the law or regulation. It has less scientific input and little public participation, often facing pressure to formalize as a regulation.

Question 7

What is Guidance?

Answer 7

Guidance is made by agencies, involves robust scientific input, may have scientific peer review, and is not enforceable.

Question 8

What is the distinction between Law & Regulation, Policy, and Guidance regarding obligation?

Answer 8

Law and Regulation: must do; Policy: may; Guidance: should.

Question 10

What does RCRA stand for and what does it cover?

Answer 10

RCRA stands for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; it covers municipal waste and hazardous waste handling and cleanup where the responsible party is identifiable.

Whoever did the problem is responsible for cleaning it up.

Question 11

What does CERCLA stand for and what does it cover?

Answer 11

CERCLA stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund); it covers cleanup of hazardous waste sites where the responsible party is not clearly identified.

Question 12

What is the purpose of the Brownfields Law?

Answer 12

The Brownfields Law is intended to provide relief from environmental cleanup laws for those that redevelop currently contaminated unused sites.

It encourages redevelopment, uses a risk-based approach to lower some cleanup levels, provides grant money and tax incentives, and offers protection against future contamination findings.

Question 13

What does the Underground Storage Tanks regulation manage?

Answer 13

The Underground Storage Tanks regulation manages detection and cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks.

Funds from gas surcharges are used to clean up sites, with cleanup levels set to protect groundwater.

Question 14

What is the first step in the RCRA remediation process?

Answer 14

RCRA Facility Assessment (RFA)

Conducted by a regulatory agency to determine if a release needs further investigation.

Question 15

What is the purpose of the RCRA Facility Assessment (RFA)?

Answer 15

To determine if a release needs further investigation.

Involves document/paper review, site visual inspection, and limited sampling.

Question 16

What are the possible results of the RCRA Facility Assessment (RFA)?

Answer 16

No further action, interim corrective measures, or RFI.

RFI stands for RCRA Facility Investigation.

Question 17

What is the second step in the RCRA remediation process?

Answer 17

RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI)

A detailed investigation of the contaminant release.

Question 18

What is the goal of the RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI)?

Answer 18

To collect enough information to make an informed decision on corrective measures.

Question 19

What is the third step in the RCRA remediation process?

Answer 19

Corrective Measures Study (CMS)

Question 20

What is the fourth step in the RCRA remediation process?

Answer 20

Corrective Measures Implementation

Question 21

Corrective Measures study:

Answer 21

-identifies and recommends appropriate, specific measures to correct the release
-relies on info from RFI
-usually evaluates costs and benefits of different options and recommends a preferred option

Question 22

-Simple Random sampling:

Answer 22

random number table, or random number generator
Grid sampling: systematic, or random; provides a good coverage of site

Question 23

Transect Sampling:

Answer 23

establishes a line across the sampling area, and samples at predetermined distances across the line
-Good for situations where there is some environmental gradient

Question 24

Stratified Random Sampling:

Answer 24

-random within predetermined groups or strata
-good when site presents different types of environmental conditions

Question 25

Grab Sampling

Answer 25

most typical type; good for assessing variability A "grab sample" is used when you need a snapshot of a specific point in time and location

Question 26

Composite Sampling

Answer 26

saves money, good for assessing “average” conditions, good if sampling material is in limited supply (macroinvertebrates, bird blood, etc), good for patchy environments Composite sampling is sed when you want to represent an average condition over a period of time by combining multiple samples taken at different intervals or locations

Question 27

Understanding how to sample groundwater (well monitoring)

Answer 27

-depth and water level monitoring (uses a water level sounder and piezometer

Question 28

Understanding how to sample groundwater: Purging

Answer 28

the process of removing stagnant water from a well before collecting a sample, essentially replacing it with fresh groundwater

Question 29

-Sampling:

Answer 29

collecting the groundwater for analysis, can use a bail or pump

Question 30

Bailing

Answer 30

a specific method of purging using a device called a bailer, which is lowered into the well to manually extract water by pulling it up with a rope or cord ( a hand operated way to pump a well)

Question 31

pumping

Answer 31

using a dedicated pump to extract water from a well

Question 32

What is a data quality objective w/ example:

Answer 32

defines the goals for a monitoring project Ex: -define the goals for monitoring a project, The project will determine with 95% confidence whether groundwater TCE concentrations below the site exceed a threshold of 23ug/L.

Question 33

6 data quality indicators (DQI)

Answer 33

Precision – measure of reproducibility Accuracy – measure of bias Representativeness – degree to which the sample data accurately and precisely represent the environment sampled Completeness – measure of the amount of valid data obtained Comparability – degree to which one data set can be compared to another Sensitivity – capability of a method to discriminate between measurements at various levels

Question 35

QA Elements: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS)

Answer 35

For sample collection, preservation, handling, storage, and lab methods

Question 36

QA Elements

Answer 36

SOPS Sample custody Equipment/instrument calibration and maintenance Data validation procedures Audits Corrective Action Quality control checks

Question 37

QC Sample: Field Blank

Answer 37

A sample of clean, contaminant free water, that is poured into sampling containers in the field to assess contamination from field conditions, handling, or transport

Question 38

QC Sample: Trip blank

Answer 38

A sealed container of contaminant-free water (or solvent) that is prepared in the lab and transported with the samples but never opened in the field.

Question 39

QC Sample: Method Blank-

Answer 39

A sample of contaminant-free water (or matrix) that is processed through the entire analytical method, including preparation and

Question 40

QC Sample: Field duplicate

Answer 40

A second, independent sample collected from the same location under identical conditions to assess sample variability and precision.

Question 41

QC Sample: Lab duplicate

Answer 41

A second analysis of the same sample conducted in the lab to assess analytical precision.

Question 42

QC Sample: Standard Reference material-

Answer 42

A sample with a known concentration of the target analyte, purchased from a certified provider and used to verify instrument calibration and accuracy.

Question 43

QC Sample: Blank Spike

Answer 43

A clean sample matrix spiked with a known concentration of the analyte to test analytical accuracy and recovery.

Question 44

QC Sample: Matrix Spike

Answer 44

A field sample spiked with a known concentration of the analyte to assess matrix effects on recovery.

Question 45

saturated zone

Answer 45

the layer of soil or rock below the ground surface where all the pores and cracks are completely filled with water

Question 46

-unsaturated zone

Answer 46

layer of soil and rock beneath land surface that is above the saturated zone that contains air+soil moisture

Question 47

Confined aquifer-

Answer 47

ground water below a confining layer. Rain cannot make it through. Gets water from a recharge area (like a lake)

Question 48

Unconfined aquifer-

Answer 48

An aquifer whose upper water surface (water table) is an an atmospheric pressure, thus is able to rise and fall

Question 49

Confining layer-

Answer 49

Layer of rock or clay where water cannot pass through very easily

Question 50

Capillary fringe-

Answer 50

the subsurface layer in which groundwater seeps up from a water table by capillary action to fill pores.

Question 51

-solid stem auger

Answer 51

digs into the ground and pulls up dirt as it turns, used for shallow drilling and soil sampling

Question 52

Hollow Stem Auger-

Answer 52

similar to solid stem, but center is hollow

Question 53

Rotary wash drilling-

Answer 53

uses a spinning drill bit with water or mud to remove dirt and keep the hole opened, works well for deep drilling and tougher ground surface, used for wells, deep soil testing

Question 54

-Borehole:

Answer 54

deep hole made in the ground when looking for oil, gas, and water -gathers information put together from a well log -tells you how groundwater moves on the site + pollutants in that groundwater

Question 55

DNAPLs-

Answer 55

Dense nonaqueous phase liquid -Heavy crude oil, chlorinated solvents (TCE), PAHs, coal tar, PCBs

Question 56

LNAPLs

Answer 56

Light nonaqueous phase liquid -Gasoline products -BTEX

Question 57

Absorption-

Answer 57

process of being incorporated into the bulk of a substance -In GW: 1) contaminants will move much more slowly than GW flow 2)contaminants can be hard to remove 3) contaminated soil can be a long term source to GW In SW: 1) Organic contaminants commonly accumulate in river/lake sediments 2) sediments can be a source or sink for water column PBTs depending on equilibrium process

Question 58

Adsorption

Answer 58

process of adhering to the surface of a substance- What does this mean for monitoring: -concentrations in filtered water may be very low, while concentrations in turbid water with high TOC might be very high What does this mean for bioavailability: -tightly bound contaminants are generally thought to be non-bioavailable

Question 59

What is a TOC normalized concentration

Answer 59

-refers to the concentration of a particular substance (often a contaminant or chemical) adjusted or normalized based on the TOC content in a sample. This is done to account for variations in organic matter, making it easier to compare concentrations across different samples.

Question 60

Volatilization

Answer 60

The process of a substance changing from a liquid or solid to a vapor or gas

Question 61

Factors that influence volatilization:

Answer 61

-molecular size/weight -Temperature -wind -mixing -hydrophobicity (sacred of water)

Question 62

-Bioconcentration

Answer 62

buildup of a contaminant from the water into a living organism

Question 63

Bioaccumulation

Answer 63

Buildup of a contaminant from water and food into a living organism

Question 64

Biomagnification

Answer 64

buildup of a contaminant from food to progressively higher levels at each step in the food chain

Question 65

Know the different methods to determine hydraulic conductivity

Answer 65

-estimate from type of soil -estimate from lab tests with soil -field measure using a slug test

Question 66

Be able to calculate a retardation facto

Answer 66

Retardation= measure of the degree to which sorption slows down the movement of a contaminant High Sorption=High Rd Rd= retardation factor =velocity of water/velocity of contaminant