PM Environmental to Present at AIPG Technical Workshop

PM Environmental will present at the fifth annual AIPG American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) Technical Workshop held June 16 to 17 in Roscommon County, Mich. The presentation topic will be incremental sampling methodology (ISM), a method of soil sampling that improves accuracy and significantly reduces costs for site assessments.

The two-day event will focus on site characterization at facilities and properties where petroleum or hazardous materials have been released.

PM's manager of field services, Casey Armstrong, and manager of technical services, Stephen Zayko, will present on ISM. A new approach to site investigation, ISM is detailed in the 400-plus page document titled, "Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) Technical and Regulatory Guide, Incremental Sampling Methodology."

"People hear about ISM, but a lot of them don't know what it is, how it's used or the benefits," Zayko said. "We wanted to take all the important details of ISM from many sources and give it to people in a way they'll understand."

ISM is a structured composite sampling and processing protocol. ISM provides representative average soil concentrations for a defined area (i.e. decision unit) by collecting numerous increments, typically 30 to 100, that are combined and processed according to specific protocols into three to five ISM samples. The three to five ISM samples are analyzed at the laboratory, instead of collecting and analyzing 20 to 30 samples and averaging the results.

"Each ISM sample costs more to collect and process," said Zayko. "However, the total cost is less than traditional sampling because you need three samples instead of 20."

Several months ago, AIPG sought abstracts for case studies that emphasized site characterization, conceptual site models and techniques used for investigating releases of hazardous substances. Zayko and Armstrong responded to the request for abstracts with an original abstract titled, "Incremental Sampling Methodology for Characterization of Site/Facility Decision Units."

With more than 30 years combined experience in site assessment, characterization and remediation, Zayko and Armstrong are looking forward to the opportunity to present at this year's AIPG workshop. 

Source: PM Environmental