Discussionspublic

Regulations

This is a public Forum  publicRSS

Topic

    EdG
    1-4 Dioxane "Latest" Hot Contaminant
    Topic posted May 18, 2011 by EdGElite Contributor, last edited January 19, 2012
    819 Views, 6 Comments
    Title:
    1-4 Dioxane "Latest" Hot Contaminant
    Content:

    Attended the NH DES Conference on Waste Management and the hot contaminant topic was Dioxane.  I found out that it's highly soluble, comes from numerous sources - landfills, chlorinated solvents, used since the 1950s and is a byproduct of ethoxylation (?) - stemming from detergents, shampoos and cosmetics.

    3 ug/l standard as of now.

    Other Major Topics - to be blogged about (time permitting):

    1. NH DES cutting budget and job positions (MA DEP and MA gov't pay attention! we are in a recession!), decrease in staff, Federal funding of Brownfields;

    2. VI - requiring 3 subslab soil/gas samples - 1 in center; if unobtainable - then samples must go deeper - but use every effort to get subslab;

    3. DES one-stop!  Great resource!;

    4. 3 contaminants updated: (i) Trans 1,2 DCE added, (ii) 1, 3, 5 TMB deleted, (iii) Ethylbenzen - dropped levels.

    more to follow (hopefully).

    Comment

     

    • Tom Speight
      posted May 19, 2011 by Tom SpeightElite Contributor

      They've been wrestling with 1,4 dioxane out here for a while.  The South Hadley Landfill has a plume of the stuff about a half mile long, and back during the early 90s several entire neighborhoods had to be put on public water because of it.  The source was lab solvents from several colleges and paper/printing firms disposed prior to RCRA.

      BTW, MADEP has had several big rounds of layoffs and nonreplacements.  They even cut our local Emergency Response unit. 

    • EdG
      posted May 19, 2011 by EdGElite Contributor

      Thanks Tom.  That's scary as my sister/family lives in Deerfield - not all that far away.

      And as to cutting the budget/layoffs - it has impacted the private sector severly.  It is about time it occurs at the government level. 

      Please note that recently the MA Department of Transportation just gave 17 employees pay raises.  "2 months after sate Transportation Sec. Jeffrey B. Mullan said the economy was too weak to increase salaries for public sector executives, he began handing out raises to 17 managers in his department."

      Perhaps those raises could have saved one or two of those jobs.  I don't have much sympathy for a corrput government that spends our money frivolously.  The last 3 speakers of the House are felons and/or indicted on felony charges.  I could go on - but will stop there....

    • Tom Speight
      posted May 20, 2011 by Tom SpeightElite Contributor

      Ok, that annoys me to no end.

      DEP's budget has been cut by 20% in the last three years ($60 million in 2008, now 48.5).  The legislature wants to whack another  $5 million out of that for FY 2012.  As it is, in the early 2000s the Romney administration ordered the DEP to use fines and filing fees as a source of revenue.... which many in the business community who had supported budget cuts turned out not to like either.

      BTW-- I'm wondering how NH can just 'delete' a substance.  1,3,5- trimethylbenzene isn't a RCRA listed waste or Appendix VIII/IX analyte, but still.....

    • EdG
      posted May 21, 2011 by EdGElite Contributor

      Sadly I spent waaaayyyy too much time wondering how to respond to your comments above Tom.  Since I respect you, your opinion and  this forum - I will send you my response to your personal email - as it is getting too political and like the Boston Herald, I feel like I would be censored for my point of view....


      As far as questioning my comment on 1,3,5 trimethylbenzene - please contact the NH DES.  That is exactly how I heard it. 

      If I am wrong - then I apologize for misleading the forum.  However, perhaps you could have researched the issue first before just putting it "out there."  Despite not being an environmental consultant - I do have a little experience in the environmental industry....

      Thanks,

      Ed

    • Show/Hide Replies
      EdG
      posted May 23, 2011 by EdGElite Contributor

      To conclude:

      I spoke to Robin Morgeon, P.E., NH DES - 603.273.7378; robin.mongeon@des.nh.gov and I was Correct.  The NH DES has "deleted" (in her own words) 1,3,5 TMD from their "list." 

      The confusion probably comes from the fact that the "deletion" is from the NH DES's VI IAQ list.  This is because, as we all know, the EPA no longer has an IAQ risk level for TMB contaminant - and therefore the NH DES has "deleted it" (a simple phone call answered the question).

      Onto better things:  You can find the very informative presenters slides at http://bit.ly/lIQ70f

      • Papachichi
        posted June 3, 2011 by PapachichiMember

        1,4-Dioxane is an ether that was used as a stabilizer for chlorinated solvents.  It is very stable and does not breakdown by insitu bioremediation.  1,4-Dioxane cannot be removed by pump and treat with an airstripper.  Removal from groundwater exsitu requires UV oxidation.  There have been some studies completed in the laboratory using propane activiated bioremediation but that has only been at bench scale level.  I have not heard of any field studies.

        I recently worked on a site with 1,4-dioxane in groundwater above the state cleanup levels.   We conducted pilot tests using insitu chemical oxidation using activiated persulfate.  Injections effectively reduced concentrations of 1,4-dioxane up to 95% reduction.  We have seen some rebound in concentrations over the first two quarters following two injection events. 

        We are evaluating full scale implementation for the plume.