Massachusetts l New Method 1 Standards Proposed [Newsletter]
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Transcript of Massachusetts l New Method 1 Standards Proposed [Newsletter]
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SPRING 2002
NEW METHOD 1 STANDARDS PROPOSED
On December 20, 2001, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP)
released Draft Method 1 Standards "for discussion purposes only." The proposed changes to the
standards, if approved, may significantly affect the response actions at Massachusetts
Contingency Plan (MCP) sites. The revised standards will likely be issued in final form, after
public comment, in the fall of 2002.
If the Draft changes are adopted, roughly half of Method 1 standards for ground water and over
80 percent of soil standards will change. New Method 1 standards are included for three
additional compounds: the chlorinated solvent additive 1 A-dioxane and the explosives RDX and
HMX. Soil and ground water standards for total chromium have been reduced to the hexavalent
chromium standard instead of the higher trivalent standard, as is currently the case.
Proposed changes to selected individual standards are summarized below.
Method 1 Ground Water Standards [units are in parts per billion]: GW-l and GW-3 standards for
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PARs) will generally be lower. For example, the GW-3
standard for benzo(a)pyrene will decrease from 3,000 to 10. The GW-l standard for
naphthalene, an important compound at fuel oil release sites, will increase from 20 to 140, and
the GW-2 standard will increase from 6,000 to 20,000. However, the GW-3 naphthalene
standard will decrease from 6,000 to 1,000, making it the limiting factor at sites outside drinking
water areas. Similarly, the GW-2 benzene standard will increase from 2,000 to 40,000, but the
GW-3 standard will decrease from 7,000 to 5,000. While the GW-l and GW-3 standards for
volatile petroleum hydrocarbons (VPHs) and extractable petroleum hydrocarbons (EPHs) will
remain unchanged, the GW-2 standards (with the exception of C11 to C22 aromatics) will be
higher by a factor of 5 to 10. GW-2 standards for many chlorinated hydrocarbons will be lower,
with the exception of trichloroethylene, which increases from 300 to 500, and vinyl chloride,
which increases from 2 to 8.
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Method 1 Soil Standards [units are in parts per million]. The often-problematic carcinogenic
PAH soil standards, currently set at 0.7, will rise for all soil categories, except
benzo(a,h)anthracene. Standards increase to 30 for S-3 soils, 7 for S-2 soils, and between 2 and
7 for S-l soils. The general trend in VPH and EPH fractions and target analytes will be
downward. For example, S-l/GW-1 standards for VPH/EPH aromatic fractions drop by 70 to 90
percent. Soil standards for naphthalene, which are often controlled by ground water
classification, will remain at 4 in GW-1 areas, but will increase by a factor of 4 to 5 in other S-l
soils and decrease by 50 percent or more in other S-2 and S-3 soils. Soil standards for mercury,
currently ranging between 20 and 60, will decrease to 1 for all soil categories. Cadmium values
will drop from 30 to 3 in S-l soils and 80 to 20 in S-2 and S-3 soils.
The full list of revisions can be found at
http://www.state.ma.us/dep/bwsc/files/workgrps/numbers/numbers.htm.