Beverly Fink Residence

BEVERLY FINK RESIDENCE, VA PC#2001-2135N
Description of Role: Primary Environmental Consultant/Contractor
Key Personnel: Andrew Alden, Christopher M. Swan, III, Chris Lalli, Carl Cirillo
Project Cost: $56,323.70 to date
Time Period of Project Work: April 2001 to Present
Client: Ms. Beverly Fink
Client Representative: Ms. Beverly Fink
Regulatory Agency: Department of Environmental Quality
Regional Office(s): West-Central Regional Office

Introduction:

The Beverly Fink Residence is a private residence located at 5701 Cove Road, in Roanoke County, Virginia. The site is owned by Ms. Beverly Fink.. Environmental Engineering, Inc. (EEI) is presenting this project as an example of EEI’s ability to provide initial abatement measures and site characterization at a residence impacted by a small heating oil tank petroleum release site, which is located in a neighborhood with nearby domestic wells and documented surface water impact via the local storm sewer system.
This example also demonstrates emergency response capabilities in terms of providing services to abate hazardous conditions impacting receptors in proximity to the release site. All professional/field services and equipment discussed in this example were solely provided by EEI, unless explicitly noted in the Scope-of-Work or Staff Resources and Involvement sections of this project overview.

Scope of Work:

This petroleum release was discovered in March of 2001 when a subsurface oil line between a small heating oil AST and the associated furnace, located in the residence basement, was found to be leaking. Near the time of the petroleum release, No. 2 fuel oil was found to be entering the stormwater sewer located in front of the house. Heating oil was traveling to the stormwater sewer outfall and impacting an unnamed tributary of Peter’s Creek. The DEQ had initially contracted with an emergency response contractor to establish and maintain petroleum-absorbent booms at the storm sewer outfall.
Once EEI was contracted by the homeowner, responsibility for maintenance of the booms at the stormwater sewer outfall transitioned smoothly from the DEQ to EEI. EEI continued to monitor and maintain the booms on a periodic basis. Booms were maintained by EEI for over one year, during which time they were replaced as necessary. Great effort was made on the part of EEI to schedule boom maintenance site visits to closely follow significant rain events, which had previously caused free product to migrate from the site to the stormwater sewer system.
EEI installed a monitoring/recovery well through the concrete foundation floor of the residence basement. The water table below the Fink Residence is very shallow, and was observed to be approximately 0.5 feet below the top of the concrete basement floor at the time recovery well was installed in April of 2001. Free product accumulated in this well at a thickness of 0.03 feet. When the subsurface portion of the heating oil supply line leaked, heating oil appears to have accumulated under the Fink Residence basement floor.
In order to aggressively recover the released heating oil, a mobile DPE and treatment system was operated at the site from April 12 through April 19 of 2001. The DPE system was operated for an average of eight hours per day, for six days, or a total of 48 hours. A 50-Kw mobile generator powered the DPE system. The DPE event utilized the monitoring/ recovery well located in the Fink Residence basement for the recovery of free product and petroleum-contaminated water.
A total of approximately two gallons (or 14 lbs.) of free product and 1,650 gallons of petroleum-contaminated water were recovered during the 48-hour DPE event. Based on TPH concentrations measured in air samples collected from the air/water separator and the measurements of air exhaust flow rate, the total mass of petroleum removed in the air stream was estimated at 13.5 pounds. Based on the diesel-range TPH concentrations of samples collected throughout the DPE event, the over-all mass of petroleum removed in the DPE system effluent is estimated at approximately 6.2 pounds as TPH. The total mass of petroleum removed during the DPE event was approximately 34.0 lbs or approximately 0.70 lbs/hr.
Ms. Fink reported that some water occasionally seeped through the basement floor and into the basement following heavy rain events. It appeared that when groundwater seeped into the basement, two mechanisms caused subsurface petroleum contamination to quickly migrate away from the Fink Residence. First, foundation drains located to the northwest and northeast of the house apparently carried heating oil to the stormwater intake located west of the house near Cove Road. Secondly, a sump pump located in the basement periodically discharges petroleum contaminated water to the home’s septic system located northwest of the house. EEI assessed impact to the environment resulting from both of these migration pathways.
EEI uncovered and checked the Fink Residence septic tank for the presence of free product on April 11. Although petroleum sheen was observed in the tank, no measurable free product was detected.
Three monitoring wells were installed on-site to assess the groundwater quality along both of the identified petroleum migration routes. One well was installed midway between the petroleum release source and the on-site domestic well. These wells were installed using EEI’s hollow stem auger drill rig using 4.25-inch I.D. augers.
Following well installation, the wells were sampled for petroleum indicator compounds. Slug tests were performed on three of the four monitoring wells in order to estimate hydraulic conductivity on-site. EEI staff surveyed the monitoring well locations and elevations and gauged all monitoring wells in order to calculate groundwater elevations at each well. Groundwater elevation data, together with hydraulic conductivity values, were used to determine interstitial groundwater velocity on-site.
Dissolved concentrations of No. 2 heating oil constituents at monitoring wells, MW-3 and MW-4 were found to be at, or slightly above, the laboratory quantitation limit for all parameters tested. The horizontal extent of dissolved-phase appears to be roughly delineated to the north and west of the petroleum release source area. Free product and dissolved-phase petroleum plumes are less defined to the south and east of the Fink Residence. Laboratory analysis of a representative sample of the on-site domestic well indicates that there is no current impact there; however, trace concentrations of diesel-range petroleum hydrocarbons were reported at the sentinel monitoring well, located midway between the house and the domestic supply well.
At the conclusion of the IAM and the SCR, EEI recommended continued monitoring of the site in order to track trends in free product accumulation, petroleum migration, groundwater elevation, and dissolved-phase petroleum concentrations. The DEQ directed the R.P. to conduct Post-Site Characterization (PSC) monitoring on-site for a period of one year. The PSC monitoring phase of corrective action included continued maintenance of the booms, monthly well gauging, quarterly well sampling, and the installation of a vapor extraction (VE) system in the basement of the residence. EEI designed, fabricated, and installed a VE system, which was connected to the monitoring/recovery well previously installed in the Fink Residence basement.
The VE system operated for approximately three months with success, however, it would often shut down due to water accumulation in the system’s knockout tank. EEI made suggestions on alleviating this problem with an automated pump out system for the knockout tank.
VE system modifications were never implemented because the results of site monitoring indicated that risk levels on-site were acceptable as based on the absence of free product for over one year, the results of vapor monitoring in the residence basement, and results of quarterly well sampling. The DEQ closed the pollution complaint in 2003. Monitoring wells on-site were properly abandoned in January of 2004. Other site closure activities are pending.

Staff and Resource Involvement:

Mr. Alden has provided engineering oversight and project management assistance since 1999. Mr. Lalli has been responsible for scheduling of personnel and field equipment to the project since 2001. Mr. Cirillo was responsible for project management, which included all IAM activities, drafting the IAMR. Mr. Rob Speiden was responsible for field management of the monitoring well installations. Mr. David Tollefson was responsible for design and fabrication of the VE system. EEI field technicians collected all field data and provided support for the operation of equipment and machinery. Equipment owned and operated by EEI that was used on this project included a DeepRock™ hollow stem auger drill rig, a mobile liquid ring pump DPE system, a 50Kw diesel generator, and a 160 cfm SVE system.