For many years, risk assessment has been a valuable interpretive tool to define the relative significance of contamination in food, soil, water, and air. Since their introduction over a decade ago, risk assessment methodologies have continued to improve and now provide a valuable tool to reduce costs and close environmentally distressed sites.

Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) requires the identification of specific contaminant levels and allows for the development site-specific exposure criteria to evaluate risk based on potential exposure pathways.  To determine the appropriate cleanup level for a site, sufficient data must be obtained to make reasonable assumptions regarding the nature and extent of the contamination in order to assess the exposure risk based on the intended use of the site.

AKT Peerless’ staff is experienced in designing and implementing site investigations including the collection, compilation, and evaluation of environmental data to achieve the following:

·         The contaminant distribution at the site

·         The media which are contaminated (soil or groundwater)
The potential exposure pathways based on the media affected and an evaluation of the potential receptors

·         The generation of site specific cleanup criteria when generic criteria are not applicable

·         Remediation strategies based on the intended site use

After obtaining site-specific data, risk assessment algorithms can be used to calculate site specific cleanup levels when generic criteria are not appropriate.  If the maximum concentrations detected at the site are less than their respective cleanup levels, no further action may be necessary to close the site. For most sites, a risk-based approach will reduce the costs and time required to achieve closure.  Additionally, for new owners who are not liable for existing contamination because a Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA) has been conducted, site closure can often be achieved by preparing an Interim Response Designed to meet Criteria (IRDC) report rather than a Remedial Action Plan (RAP).  The IRDC allows for site closure without addressing all of the on-site and off-site concerns required by a RAP.

Although risk assessment was once reserved for only costly Superfund sites, today this remedial decision-making tool is increasingly used for sites of all sizes and complexities for setting cleanup criteria.