E I I Report on Lower Housatonic River Sediment r PCB Sampling D n r i R General Electric Company Pittsfield, Massachusetts L December 1996 o o L o O o I NJ OJ o BBBLASLANDJOUCKjaEJL^ INC, engineers &sc/enf/sfs Area Environmental & Facility Programs General Electric Company WO Woodlawn Avenue. Pittsfield. MA 01201 Transmitted Via Federal Express December 19, 1996 Charles G. Fredette Mr. Bryan Olson Connecticut Department of USEPA, Region 1 Environmental Protection Waste Management Section 122 Washington Street JFK Federal Building, HRR-CAN3 Hartford, CT 06106 Boston, MA 02203-2211 Re: Lower Housatonic River Sediment PCB Sampling Report Dear Mr. Fredette and Mr. Olson: Enclosed please find the Report on Lower Housatonic River Sediment PCB Sampling. This report includes a brief summary of the PCB data compiled from appropriate files maintained by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CDEP) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) of the section of the Housatonic River below the Derby Dam. As discussed, this report only describes PCB data from this reach, although other available sediment data are presented in the attachments. Please call us with any questions. Very truly yours, Andrew T. Silfer, P.E. Remediation Project Manager DCK/rmg SYR-T \4J96I137WPD cc: R. Bell, Esquire DEP J.R. Bieke, Esquire, Shea & Gardner J.L. Cutler, DEP R.F. Desgroseilliers, GE R.K. Goldman, P.E., L.S.P., Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc. M. Hoagland, EPA D.J. Luckerman, Esquire, EPA 0 J. M. Nuss, P.E., L.S.P., Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc. S. Steenstrup, DEP A.J. Thomas, Esquire, GE A. Weinberg, DEP December 19, 1996 Page 2 of2 S.P. Winslow, Esquire, DEP Housatonic River Initiative (w/o enclosure) Public Information Repositories (ECLI-R-IV (A)(l) and (2)) Enclosure i— " Report on Lower \ Housatonic River Sediment [ PCS Sampling r r i General Electric Company Pittsfield, Massachusetts December 1996 I 1 BLASLAND, BOUCK 8t LEE INC. onglnoort A tolentltts 6723 Towpath Road, P.O. Box 66 Syracuse, New York, 13214-0066 (315)446-9120 I Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 IJj II. Data Compilation 2 III. Information Summary 3 I A. USEPA PCB Data 3 B. CDEP Analytical Data 4 Tables Table 1 Summary of Lower Housatonic River Sediment Sampling Information Table 2 Summary of Lower Housatonic River Sediment PCB Analytical Data p Figures Figure 1 Lower Housatonic River Sediment Sampling Locations j Attachments ! '<• Attachment 1 Data Set - USEPA-1 r Attachment 2 Data Sets - CDEP-1 through CDEP-9 i i BLASLAND. BOUCK & LEE. INC. SYR-TW561137 wro-12/19/96 engineers & scientists f / Introduction This report has been has been prepared by Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc. (BBL) at the request of the General Electric Company (GE) to summarize available PCB data for sediments associated with a ten-mile stretch of the Housatonic River. The section of the river addressed by this effort is the estuary portion which includes the river from its mouth at Long Island Sound to a point approximately ten miles north at Derby, CT ("lower Housatonic River"). This data compilation effort involved a review of information available from the United States Environmental i Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CDEP). In general, the analytical information obtained through the USEPA and CDEP consisted of a total of 181 sediment samples (including 14 duplicate samples) collected from 153 locations from the lower ten miles of the Housatonic River. I These samples were collected during the time period ranging from September 1981 to August 1995. Section II of this report briefly describes BBL's data compilation efforts, while Section III provides an overview of the compiled PCB database. In addition to the report narrative, Table 1 summarizes the information reviewed by BBL, Table 2 summarizes the PCB data compiled from this information, and Figure 1 presents the approximate sediment sampling locations (where known). Information obtained from the USEPA and CDEP is included as Attachments 1 and 2, respectively. Although Attachments 1 and 2 contain, in addition to PCB data, other sediment analytical data, those data are not specifically C discussed within this report since, pursuant to discussions with the CDEP, the focus of this effort was sediment PCB data. This information has been included in Attachments 1 and 2 for completeness. I I C L I a BLASLAND. BOUCK & LEE, INC. SYR-TVM541137WTO-12/19/96 engineers 4 scientists i // Data Compilation In June 1996, BBL, on behalf of GE, contacted Mr. Michael Jasinski at the USEPA in Boston, MA regarding the availability of sediment PCB data for the lower Housatonic River. Subsequently, Mr. Jasinski determined that the only sediment PCB data for the lower Housatonic River maintained in USEPA files were associated with the USEPA Raymark Industries Federal Super-fund Site in Stratford, CT. In August 1996, Mr. Jasinski forwarded a data package (Attachment 1) along with associated mapping for sediment sampling conducted in the lower Housatonic River area for that Superfund Site. As shown on Figure 1, many of the sediment samples were collected from wetland and tributary areas immediately adjacent to the Housatonic River. These data are further discussed I in Section III. BBL made similar inquiries on GE's behalf in June 1996 to the CDEP. BBL coordinated this search effort with Mr. George Wisker, Senior Environmental Analyst at the CDEP. Mr. Wisker conducted a preliminary review of appropriate files, and concluded that BBL would need to make an office visit to fully review the pertinent files. On August 6, 1996, BBL reviewed the relevant CDEP files in Hartford, CT, obtaining available sediment PCB data. r The available sediment PCB data included nine Housatonic River dredging permit applications made to the State of Connecticut between 1981 to 1995. The information obtained during that review is included with this report as E Attachment 2. i i i i BLASLAND BOUCK&LEE. INC r SYR-TVM5AH37WPD- 12/19/96 engineers A scientists E /// Information Summary In genera], the analytical information obtained through the USEPA and CDEP consisted of a total of 181 sediment samples (including 14 duplicate samples) collected from 153 locations from the lower ten miles of the Housatonic River. These samples were collected during the time period ranging from September 1981 to August 1995. For almost all the sediment sampling data provided, information regarding sampling depths was not available. The i PCB concentration s of the sediment samples ranged from non-detect to 18.2 ppm. Approximately 85 percent of the results exhibited PCB concentrations less than 1 ppm, with only four exceeding 10 ppm. The overall average PCB concentration of all sediment sample results was calculated to be 0.92 ppm (using one-half the detection limit I for non-detec t results and a zero value for unknown detection limits) or 0.90 ppm (using a zero value for non-detect results and unknown detection limits). Approximately 80 percent of the PCB results contained Aroclor-specific information. Where such information was li available, Aroclors 1262 and 1268 comprised approximately 90 percent of the PCB detected. These Aroclors are a more highly chlorinated biphenyl than those found at any sampling location upstream within the river system. Aroclors 1254 and 1260 comprised most of the remainder of the PCB detected in these samples, while Aroclor 1242 was reported for one sample result. For the four sediment samples with PCB concentrations above 10 ppm, Aroclor 1268 comprised approximately 75 percent of the detected PCB, while Aroclor 1262 comprised the remainder. The highest PCB concentrations in the available USEPA and CDEP data were associated with sediment samples collected from an area along the Housatonic River adjacent to the City of Stratford. The Raymark Industries, Inc. Federal Superfund Site, which comprises a number of disposal areas in Stratford, was confirmed by USEPA to contain PCBs in surficial soils and to be the source of PCBs in sediments of one creek leading to the Housatonic River. These disposal areas are upstream of the Housatonic River and may be a source of PCBs for the Housatonic River sediments. Available sampling information upstream and downstream of the City of Stratford in the lower I Housatoni c River show PCB concentrations to be primarily non-detect in sediments, with the highest PCB concentration of 0.161 ppm found at an upstream sample location. I A summary of this information is included in Tables 1 and 2, while sampling locations (where known) are shown on Figure 1. (For a number of the sampling results, the sampling locations were not identified in the information provided by the USEPA or CDEP; hence, these locations are not shown on Figure 1.) Provided below are brief summaries of the USEPA and CDEP data sets which include information pertaining to: • Number of sediment samples collected: • Date of sampling; • Parties conducting sampling and analyses; • Location of sampling; and o • PCB range of sediment sampling results. A. USEPA PCB Data The sediment PCB data obtained by BBL from the USEPA is designated as data set "USEPA-1" on Tables 1 and 2. These data were collected in June 1993 and between August 1994 and August 1995 as part of investigations I associated with the Raymark Industries, Inc., Federal Superfund Site, located in Stratford, CT. The June 1993 sampling event involved the collection of 22 sediment samples (denoted with prefix "HR" in i Table 2). Sample s were collected by USEPA Region I from the mouth of the Housatonic River at Long Island Sound to a location north of the City of Stratford, CT (Figure 1) and analyzed by RECRA Environmental, Inc. These samples contained PCBs at concentrations ranging from non-detect to 0.790 ppm (estimated value).