Air Sampling Reveals
No Cause for Concern

When some military sites are no longer needed by the Department of Defense, the sites are either sold or transferred to civilian use. There are thousands of these Formerly Used Defense (FUD) sites in a variety of uses across the country. In cases where contamination is later discovered at a FUD site, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers often provides project management, preliminary assessments, and remedial action.

The Louisville District of the Corps has been involved in such a situation with the investigation and risk assessment at the former Marion Engineer Depot in Marion, Ohio. Military vehicles were stored and repaired at the site from 1942 until 1961. During this time, the property was also used for burying waste materials. This FUD site is approximately 640 acres and is of particular interest to the Corps because the River Valley High School and Middle School were subsequently built on the northeastern section of the property and are immediately adjacent to one of the waste dump areas.

The Corps contracted Battelle to conduct air-monitoring activities at the site during the summer and fall of 1999. The purpose of the sampling program was to document the air quality at the River Valley Schools over a four-month period of time. Previous investigations at the site revealed that a portion of the school grounds was contaminated with petroleum byproducts and waste solvents. Air sampling was necessary to determine if there was an air pathway for the contaminants.

Sampling was conducted at several locations on the school grounds as well as in the former dump area. The target list of compounds included 42 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 17 semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) that are considered to be indicative of air quality. The VOCs were sampled using evacuated stainless steel canisters following guidelines in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) TO-14A document. The SVOCs were sampled using a combination particulate filter and XAD-2 adsorbent cartridge (PS-1) following guidelines in the EPA TO-13A document. During each sampling event 24-hour, time-integrated samples of air were collected. Sampling was performed on a 12-day cycle for eight successive cycles.

A portable battery-powered meteorological station was also placed at the site to measure and record the local meteorological parameters of wind direction, wind speed, temperature, barometric pressure, and relative humidity.

Six canister-sampling stations and five PS-1 sampling stations were established for this study. Four canister samplers were co-located with four PS-1 samplers in the fenced-in area of contamination adjacent to the schools. The fifth PS-1 sampler and the portable meteorological station were also located in the enclosed dump site area. The two remaining canister-sampling stations were placed on the roof of the middle school and on the pitcher’s mound of the softball field.

Results indicate that the air quality is very good and similar to concentrations that are typically observed at other rural areas in Ohio. Based upon the chemical species measured and their corresponding concentrations, there is not an air pathway for the buried material at the former dump site.

For more information, please contact Mike Holdren at (614) 424-5307 or via e-mail at holdren@battelle.org.