Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England

Air Monitoring During Construction of Marine Bulkhead along Hervey Tichon Avenue, New Bedford

No airborne PCB levels have been detected that pose a health risk to cleanup workers or area business workers after six months of air monitoring during construction of a marine bulkhead. This 700 foot-long bulkhead was constructed as part of the soon-to-be built dewatering facility which will handle contaminated harbor sediment.

From 10/7/02 to 3/19/03: results from 32 individual PCB air samples (listed below) have ranged from 0.4 to 19 ng/m³ (nanograms per cubic meter of air - a nanogram is one-billionth of a gram).

Airborne PCB concentrations below 1,000 ng/m³ for adult workers are considered safe by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

In addition to this work-place standard, EPA tracks the amount of measured airborne PCBs over time and compares these amounts to an action level. Because the airborne PCB levels are extremely low, even the highest results fall far below the level requiring any corrective action.

Sample Location Date Airborne PCB Levels* New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 03/19/03 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 03/05/03 3 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 02/19/03 1 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 02/05/03 1 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 01/21/03 0.4 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 01/06/03 2 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 12/19/02 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 12/05/02 3 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 11/19/02 14 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 11/07/02 2 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 10/30/02 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 10/22/02 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 10/17/02 4 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 10/15/02 12 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 10/09/02 19 ng/m3 New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics 10/07/02 5 ng/m3 Sample Location Date Airborne PCB Levels New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 03/19/03 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 03/05/03 2 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 02/19/03 1 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 02/05/03 1 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 01/21/03 1 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 01/06/03 6 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 12/19/02 2 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 12/05/02 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 11/19/02 17 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 11/07/02 1 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 10/30/02 4 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 10/22/02 5 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 10/17/02 2 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 10/15/02 7 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 10/09/02 12 ng/m3 New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. 10/07/02 5 ng/m3   * Airborne PCB concentration (in billionths of grams per cubic meter of air, or ng/m3)