Richard J. Wenning – Wenning Environmental LLC, Yarmouth, Maine, US
Chapter 24, Case Study – Screening Level Ecological Risk Assessment of Residual Soil Contamination at a Former Munitions Disposal Landfill. In: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment -Theory and Practice Third Edition, Volume 2; D.J. Paustenbach (ed.). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119742975.ch24
ABSTRACT:
A screening-level ecological risk assessment (SLERA) is a desktop exercise typically used to quickly assess ecological conditions at a contaminated site. It identifies which contaminants, non-chemical stressors, exposure pathways, and ecological receptors may be at risk and require detailed evaluation. The SLERA also guides site investigations by identifying contamination and ecological data gaps; addressing these gaps improves understanding of the nature and extent of ecological threats. It relies mainly on information readily available in the scientific literature. Because the SLERA is a screening tool, the assumptions and parameters in ecological exposure calculations are deliberately conservative to reduce the likelihood of underestimating risks to wildlife from contamination and environmental changes.
This chapter from Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, Theory and Practice, Volume 2 (3rd edition, Dennis J. Paustenbach, editor; Wiley) features a case study demonstrating the use of SLERA at a contaminated site. The site was a former US military training base located next to San Pablo Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. For decades until the late 1970s, the military base’s landfill accepted spent munitions and other wastes from training exercises. By the early 1980s, waste materials and soils excavated from the landfill had been removed and treated off-site, and the landfill was capped with clean soil and revegetated to restore native grassland habitat for wildlife. Periodic site monitoring over the next 25 years detected metals and organic chemicals in the surface soil. This raised concerns among California regulatory authorities and the former property owner regarding residual contamination, prompting an SLERA to quickly evaluate its nature and extent.
